VILNIUS - New evidence has emerged in the case surrounding a prominent Lithuanian businessman who disappeared in of Kaliningrad last year.
Police recently reclassified the investigation into the disappearance of Stanislovs Jucius to pre-meditated murder. Authori-ties believe that his death may be tied to local business practices in Lithuania and Kaliningrad, a Russian exclave on the Baltic Sea.
Kaliningrad prosecutors have unveiled evidence of numerous death threats leveled against the businessman over real estate development projects, corporate debt and murky real estate deals, the Lithuanian television news program "Panorama" reported.
Before his disappearance Jucius headed Rosslitstroi, a major real estate development company. Jucius' replacement, Aleksandr Semkin, was later shot and killed outside of his home.
Prosecutors said there were numerous bookkeeping problems at Rosslitstroi and that the company had very few transparent deals. They have launched an audit into the company's finances. Investigators have reportedly questioned more than 120 witnesses so far, including high ranking politicians and the company's competitors in the construction industry.
"After the audit we'll be able to finalize our opinion as to the true state of financial affairs at Rosslitstroi. This is especially pressing because several projects launched by Rosslitstroi in Kaliningrad had to be stalled. Among them are two residential buildings and a medical clinic," a Kaliningrad prosecutor said.
The company reportedly had an extremely poor credit history 's in many cases clients' down payments on large projects disappeared altogether. In November of last year the company sold all of its shares to an undisclosed Russian company, forcing Kaliningrad authorities to take responsibility for the missing down payments as per an unofficial agreement the government struck before Jucius went missing.
"Part of the company finances were invested in construction materials, yet the firm's bank accounts were empty. That is why we had to start a financial audit. Many people paid down payments to Rosslitstroi and now it is a big headache for us to compensate them," said Kaliningrad vice-premier Jurij Salimov.
Jucius, 56, was last seen in Kaliningrad on April 18, 2007. He failed to show up for a business meeting in southern Kaliningrad after placing a phone call to his driver.
Lithuanian authorities have asked for Kaliningrad's assistance with the complicated investigation. When the country failed to get an adequate response from the exclave's police force during the initial phase of the investigation, authorities set up a special "coordination committee" to help improve cooperation between the two regions.
Russia has warmed to the idea of cooperating with Lithuania on crime fighting measures.
"It would be very useful to create such a joint committee indeed. Even apart from the Jucius case, both countries have many issues in law enforcement that need to be addressed," said Sergey Bezberezhiev, a representative of the Russian Foreign Ministry in Kaliningrad.
Kaliningrad is the only Russian port on the Baltic Sea that is ice free all year. The Russian authorities have tried to promote the exclave as a Baltic Hong Kong but have been unsuccessful due to rampant corruption.
Still the territory is completely surrounded by EU member states and does most of it's trade with the EU.