Vice minister resigns after scandals

  • 2001-04-26
  • BNS
VILNIUS - Lithuanian Agriculture Vice Minister Aleksas Butkus is now waiting for his boss, Agriculture Minister Kestutis Kristinaitis, to accept his resignation following a series of highly publicized scandals, it was reported on April 23.

Butkus, 47, tendered his resignation in early April, saying he was leaving the post due to family reasons and health problems.

The official, a member of the Social Liberal party, said he had been suffering from high blood pressure for over a month, but he refused to comment further on the reasons behind his resignation.

Kristinaitis made no secret that his subordinate is stepping down due to widely-reported scandals concerning his ex-wife. These are related to a division of property and failure to come to terms on the matter.

Another scandal involving Butkus was recently exposed by the Valstieciu Laikrastis newspaper, which reported that the vice minister's unfitting behavior upset Lithuania's recent talks with Russia on fishing quotas.

A Butkus-led delegation was in the neighboring Kaliningrad region on April 9-13. A one-day break was made in the talks after Butkus had too much to drink at the reception on the eve of the negotiations and was unable to chair the meeting.

Butkus is the third vice minister delegated by the center-left Social Liberals to be called to account for his inappropriate conduct. One interior vice minister failed to participate in meetings in Brussels due to his drunken condition, while another interior vice minister was accused of improper manners after he called southeastern Lithuanian teachers hens.

These are damaging developments for Lithuania's beleaguered ruling coalition, of which the Social Liberal party is a member. Both the Social Liberals and the their coalition partners the Liberal Union have been accused by the opposition Social Democrats and President Valdas Adamkus of inexperience.