VILNIUS - The parliamentary opposition set off a political time bomb this week when it handed speaker Arturas Paulauskas copies of documents, in Russian, that Economy Minister Viktor Uspaskich had allegedly used for conducting private business affairs.
The documents reportedly date back to March, when Uspaskich visited Moscow, and allegedly involve discussions about companies with which Uspaskich has personal ties. They also detail a meeting in Vilnius with a Lithuania-based Russian official, Alexander Mizgar, during which commercial questions were raised.
According to one report, compiled by Mizgar himself, Uspaskich proposed setting up a Lithuanian-Russian venture to Russian officials and allocating part of Krekenavos Agrofirma's stock to a Moscow-based producer. Uspaskich holds a stake in the firm.
The minister also allegedly suggested that the new venture take over construction of a Lithuanian wholesale terminal and logistics center in Moscow.
Three ad hoc parliamentary commissions were to be established on May 17 to investigate the allegations.
Uspaskich, who heads the populist Labor Party, reacted erratically to the information, with explanations ranging from "I've never heard about such Mizgar" to "Yes, Sasha [a diminutive of Aleksandr 's ed.] stopped by the ministry when in Vilnius."
Eventually he came up with a single spin, saying that he knew "where this wind was blowing from." The attack against him, he said, was the result of his refusal to allow a competitor company to establish a logistics center near Moscow.
Nevertheless, Uspaskich said he would resign his post if the ad hoc commissions find that he is guilty of conflicting interests. "If I am incriminated with something, I will step down, as I don't want to ruin a successful political force 's the Labor Party," he told national television on May 16.
The Labor Party, a young force that rose to the top of Lithuania's political scene through exorbitant promises, has the largest number of seats in Parliament and is the most popular party according to pollsters.
More importantly, the departure of Uspaskich, a millionaire and the Labor Party's driving force, is bound to further erode popular trust in the government of Prime Minister Algirdas Brazauskas, which was widely seen as ineffective when it comes to policy.
Uspaskich met with President Valdas Adamkus, who confirmed that, other than tax reform, they had also touched upon the scandal. The president added that he would follow a strict course of action if the allegations proved true.
Several powerful members of the Social Democratic Party, a member of the ruling coalition (see Page 5) also joined the opposition targeted at Uspaskikh.
"I would suggest that the Social Democrats try evicting Uspaskikh from the minister's office. He is a businessman and it seems that, while in politics, he continues to be involved in his personal business," said social democrat Aloyzas Sakalas.
But he added that Brazauskas, also a SocDem, was not likely to offer Uspaskich's resignation since then he would have to form a new coalition.
Sakalas said he did not see the point of safeguarding such a coalition. "Uspaskich probably did not learn a lesson from the stories. If he continues working in the ministry as in his private enterprise 's similarly how Rolandas Paksas behaved in the presidential palace 's then in a month or a bit later we will have the same problem again," he said.
Opposition leader Andrius Kubilius echoed this point, implying that the scandal would be a big test for the prime minister. "If [Brazauskas] intends to save [Uspaskich] for the sake of the coalition, we'll have to conclude that the prime minister doesn't differ much from the [economic] minister in terms of values," he said.
Brazauskas has so far refused to comment on the alleged conflict, adding that he would wait to hear the rulings of parliamentary commissions. "Everything has to be proved, everything has to be confirmed. We are not going to be guided by any rumors," the prime minister said.
Uspaskich and his fellow Laborites pinned the blame on an opposition of lies and fabricated documents. The minister said he knew who had falsified the paperwork. "We are looking for it 's we have almost found the factory [which produced the document], and we almost know where it is," he said.
However, the Lietuvos Rytas daily and LNK television received confirmation from high-ranking officials in Moscow that such a document did indeed exist and that Kremlin authorities had indeed received a proposal to include Uspaskich's family business in a Russian-Lithuanian joint-venture.
Mizgar, who is considered the author of the document, said that "on a well-grounded request," Moscow might provide the original report.
With a Labor Party initiative, two Seimas [Lithuania's parliament] commissions will investigate whether the documents are legitimate and whether a previous ruling by the Chief Official Ethics Commission could be used as proof of a conflict of interests.
The latest situation arose after Auditor General Rasa Budbergyte reported that her office had uncovered allocations of EU funds to several Uspaskich-related companies.
The politician's family owns shares in Krekenavos Agrofirma, which allegedly developed a counterfeit business plan to receive 8 million litas (2.3 million euros) from the European Union's SAPARD program.
