Kreivys steps down

VILNIUS - Lithuanian Economy Minister Dainius Kreivys has announced that we will resign from his post following a scandal in which he was accused of breaching conflict of interest laws.

The minister announced his resignation on the heels of a ruling from the Chief Official Ethics Commission that found he had acted unethically when he signed over 6 million litas in EU funding to a company partially owned by his mother.

"The commission criticizes that the minister did not know that the decision he was making was favourable to Specializuota Komplektavimo Valdyba – highest standards of behaviour should be applied to members of the country’s top governing bodies," the commission said.

"Therefore, Kreivys, when transferring to the ministerial post from the business sector, should have assessed all threats of a conflict of interests in connection to his former positions and his holdings or holdings of his relatives in various companies.”

Kreivys has weathered numerous calls from President Dalia Grybauskaite to resign from his post after the scandal emerged, but said he would keep his post until the ethics commission came to a decision.