VILNIUS - Algimantas Songaila, controversial chief of the State Border Guard Service, was finally sacked after weeks spent clinging onto his post.
Interior Minister Virgilijus Bulovas relieved Songaila of his duties on Feb. 18 following the latter's return from a prolonged sick leave, announcing that the official grounds for dismissal were "disgrace against office."
Songaila's is the first high-level head to roll among government officials outside the Presidential Palace as a direct result of the scandal surrounding President Rolandas Paksas that broke at the end of last October.
According to material collected by the State Security Department during its investigation of Paksas, Songaila frequently met with Renata Smailyte, a Vilnius dentist who allegedly brokered deals between the president's staff and figures representing Russian mafia interests.
The breaking point in the case against Songaila came amid revelations that he had issued an order to allow vehicles to cross the Lithuanian-Russian border without routine inspection at Smailyte's request.
The State Security Department also recorded a meeting between Songaila and Smailyte at the apartment of Aznor Kikalishvili, who has since been placed on a list of personae non grata in Lithuania due to activities that threaten the security of the state.
Songaila's explanation of the content of the meeting-that he merely enjoyed "brandy with coffee" at the apartment-quickly became fodder for ridicule in the national media.
While the border chief's dismissal was delayed by his leave of absence, during which no action could be taken against him, Prime Minister Algirdas Brazauskas summoned Songaila for a special meeting on Jan. 28 at which he reportedly ordered him to resign.
Songaila's reputation was further damaged when state television journalists secretly filmed him meeting former presidential security adviser Remigijus Acas in a parking lot during his sick leave.
Acas, who resigned from his former post in November, is suspected to be one of the main figures in the presidential scandal.
While the border guard chief cooperated with the first parliamentary commission charged with investigating the scandal last autumn, he excused himself from testifying to the impeachment panel formed in January on grounds of weak health.
The status of Songaila's rank of general is as of yet undecided. Brazauskas stated in late January that the rank would be reviewed on the basis of Songaila's behavior amid his resignation.
Lithuania, which plans to join the Schengen zone of free travel in 2007, shares a more than 1,100 kilometer-long frontier with Russia and Belarus, which will give it one of the longest EU external borders of any member state.
