MP accused of cheating power company

  • 2001-12-06
  • Rokas M. Tracevskis, VILNIUS
A major international scandal erupted last week when Vilnius Mayor Arturas Zuokas on Nov. 28 accused MP Egidijus Klumbys of cheating the French power company Dalkia and attempting to wreck its plans to manage the Lithuanian capital's centralized heat delivery system.

"There are certain facts which we today relayed to the state security department about an attempt by politicians to pressurize Dalkia into supporting them financially," Zuokas said at a news conference.

"They threatened to discredit the bidding process and have it stopped."

Zuokas played what he said was a recording made by Dalkia of telephone conversations in which Lithuanian National Progress Party members Aleksandras Ambrazevicius and Kestutis Grinius and representatives of MP Egidijus Klumbys threatened Dalkia employees.

Zuokas said Dalkia had received threats that it would receive unfavorable coverage in the Lithuanian media, including the news agencies BNS and ELTA, and would be shut out of negotiations with Vilnius municipality.

References to "Christmas turkey" in taped conversations between Grinius and Dalkia employees could be interpreted, said Zuokas, as code words for the payment Dalkia should make if it wanted to be left in peace.

Grinius could also be heard saying that Zuokas would be forced to resign his post as Vilnius mayor.

"This is because I told Dalkia they should never make any deals with politicians," said Zuokas.

Zuokas' comments came after Klumbys released earlier on Nov. 28 a news statement declaring he would initiate a parliamentary resolution to stop the signing of a deal on the centralized heating network in the capital city and any further tenders until the adoption of new heating provision legislation.

Zuokas suggested that other foreign companies interested in Vilnius' heating system had inspired Klumbys' actions. He said he had evidence Klumbys' associates had been offered 500,000 litas ($125,000) in return for getting the French company out of Vilnius.

"Klumbys' press release came after Dalkia's staff refused to support them financially," Zuokas said.

Klumbys responded by denying Zuokas' accusations and said he would call for the establishment of a temporary parliamentary commission to investigate the legality and economic feasibility of contracts already signed.

"I can't comment on things I don't know about," Klumbys told journalists. Ambrazevicius and Grinius also denied any involvement in threatening Dalkia.

But a Dalkia representative, Andrius Janukonis, confirmed Zuokas' claims.

"I don't have the words to express my reaction to these events. In our three years of experience in Lithuania, we have never run into this before," Janukonis wrote in a press release on Nov. 28.

Klumbys, who leads the fringe National Progress Party, became an MP by being included on the election list of the Social Liberals. He is a member of the Social Liberal faction in the Parliament, and is also a Vilnius city councilor. On Nov. 28, and not for the first time, Klumbys criticized the policies of the ruling coalition in a TV interview on Channel 11K."The ruling coalition is continuing a policy absolutely identical to that of the Conservative Party (which was in power from 1996 to 2000). They are obsessed only with NATO and EU membership, but the electorate voted for a different policy at the parliamentary election."

On Nov. 30, the Social Liberal parliamentary faction issued a statement warning Klumbys that the Social Liberals would take action to have his parliamentary immunity lifted and to ensure his prosecution if there was evidence to support Zuokas' allegations.

An MP's immunity from prosecution can only be lifted by a vote by Parliament.

Observers said it would be hard to find Klumbys guilty of any wrong doing because he did not speak to Dalkia's representatives himself.

On Nov. 29, Lithuania's State Security Department passed material provided by Zuokas in support of his claims to another agency, the Lithuanian Special Investigations Service.

The state security department reviewed the taped conversations sent by Zuokas but said some portions had been erased and the snippets of conversation remaining were incoherent - meaning the tapes could not be interpreted as an attempt to overthrow the mayor.

State security had decided to investigate the mayor's statement but turned the tapes over to the special investigations service for it to carry out an investigation into suspected corruption.

Vilnius municipality and Dalkia began negotiations on an agreement for Dalkia to manage and lease the centralized heating network for 15 years on Oct. 30.

Swedish Sydkraft AB and Dutch International Waterdevelopment BV lost out in the tender.

Negotiations between Dalkia and the municipality are supposed to be concluded by Jan. 25, 2002, with Dalkia taking control of the heating network by the end of March 2002.

The French company has promised to invest $107.5 million in the centralized heating network over the next 15 years.

It is one of the largest private providers of heating in Europe, with 250 centralized heating networks under its command, a staff of 23,000 employees and revenues of $2.87 billion last year.