The media called for and got the resignation of Transportation Minister Gintaras Striaukas last week. Economy Minister Eugenijus Maldeikis, who is embroiled in a scandal related to a recent trip to Moscow, was clinging to his position as The Baltic Times went to press early Wednesday.
On Jan. 22, Striaukas handed in his resignation after the Special Investigations Service presented President Valdas Adamkus and Prime Minister Rolandas Paksas with evidence that Striaukas had behaved unethicaly.
Striaukas was head of highway administration until his appointment to the government last fall.
The row was over the Biseris company, in which Striaukas' wife, Egle Striaukiene, had a 20 percent stake. The company won nearly every tender to work on Lithuania's highways and paid a tidy dividend to the Striaukas family.
Within hours of Striaukas' resignation, the High Commission on Service Ethics, consisting of four lawyers, ruled out the possibility that Striaukas had violated ethics rules.
On Jan. 24 President Valdas Adamkus appointed Liberal MP Dailis Barakauskas to take Striaukas' place.
Economy Minister Eugenijus Maldeikis has provoked an even bigger scandal, though he has not hurried to resign.
Maldeikis visited Moscow Jan. 12-15 to speak with Rem Viakhirev, chairman of Russian gas giant Gazprom concerning Russian natural gas supplies as well as the privatization of Lietuvos Dujos, the Lithuanian gas company. Maldeikis also met with senior officials at LUKoil.
The media reported that Maldeikis had not stayed at the Lithuanian Embassy's guest house, as Lithuanian officials usually do, but instead checked into Baltschug Kempinski, one of Moscow's poshest hotels.
Maldeikis informed the Lithuanian Foreign Ministry about his visit only a day before leaving for Moscow. During his meeting with LUKoil heads, Maldeikis was not accompanied by diplomats from the Lithuanian Embassy as is required.
The scandal exploded on Maldeikis' return to Vilnius. At a press conference following the visit journalists asked Maldeikis about his meeting with Antanas Bosas, chairman of the Lithuanian Industry and Finance Corporation.
"We just accidentally ran into each other in the corridor of the Gazprom building," Maldeikis said.
The following day Bosas called a press conference in Klaipeda and announced that Maldeikis asked for help in advance to arrange a meeting with Vyakhirev. Bosas also controls Stella Vitae, a company that sells Russian natural gas to Lithuania, and has a clear business interest in the privatization of Lietuvos Dujos.
Adamkus delivered a special speech devoted to the current scandals involving Striaukas and Maldeikis to journalists in the presidential office on Jan. 23. He condemned the economy minister for not coordinating his activity with the Foreign Ministry.
Adamkus also urged government officials to implement greater transparency in their relations with private business. At the same time Adamkus reiterated his support for the Liberal/Social Liberal government.
On Jan. 24 Arturas Paulauskas, the parliamentary chairman and leader of the Social Liberals, said that Maldeikis should resign.
"If some facts (that tarnish the ethics of an official) appear, the official, whether he is Maldeikis or Paulauskas or somebody else, should resign instead of creating problems for himself and others," Paulauskas said.
At the same time Paulauskas said that he does not see a governmental crisis. "It is too early for our burial. There is no government crisis at all," he said.
Paksas said that he would wait for a decision from the High Commission on Service Ethics. Striaukas and Maldeikis are members of the Paksas-led Liberal Union and some observers speculate that Paksas is trying to save Maldeikis by appeasing public opinion and sacrificing Striaukas.
The Special Investigation Service supplied Adamkus and Paksas with information about Striaukas and the Biseris company three months ago. Paksas was then assembling his government, and Striaukas was accepted by him and Adamkus as suitable for the post of transport minister.
The High Commission on Service Ethics discussed Maldeikis' case on Jan. 31, but no information was available as of press time. The commission wants to speak to Maldeikis, who has recently complained of heart trouble and remains at home, before making a decision.
Members of the commission may reportedly visit him at home if he is unable to attend the meeting.
Maldeikis is no stranger to scandals. He was economy minister in a Paksas-led Conservative/Christian Democrat government in 1999. After visiting Iran, he said that he had negotiated oil supplies with Teheran officials. A scandal exploded in the corridors of official Vilnius because Lithuania's strategic partner, the United States, regards Iran as a country that supports terrorism and does not encourage oil imports from there. The next day Maldeikis denied that he had ever talked about Iranian oil supplies.
He later resigned.
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