The support of the Seimas for the initiative of the parliamentary investigation of Bak is lacking: the preparation for the elections can be seen

The views of the majority of parliamentarians are somewhat different – the liberals tend to leave the investigation in the hands of the NSGK, while the “liberals” indicate that they should also consider the path proposed by V. Bako. Only the chairman of NSGK himself Laurynas Kasčiūnas states that decisions on the form of the investigation will be made after the committee’s meeting with the General Prosecutor’s Office.

At that time, when the ruling party sidelines were considering whether the maturing investigation into the activities of the VSD and the election campaign finances could have influenced the position of the country’s leader Gitanas Nausėda regarding sanctions against the citizens of Belarus, the opposition retorted – such speculations do not sound serious.

When asked about V. Bak’s initiative, Liberal Movement faction elder Eugenijus Gentvilas asserted that the initiative to investigate the activities of VSD should be taken by NSGK, and not by a separate special investigation commission.

“Frankly, I had already come to terms with the idea that getting a special status for the NSGK committee is enough without blowing it up to the level of a parliamentary commission of inquiry. But the news here is that the opposition, in the person of Bako, decided to raise it to a slightly higher level. One could ask why NSGK’s decision is delayed, but equally – why did Baks think that an alternative was needed?” – E. Gentvilas said to Eltai on Monday.

“It seems to me that the development of those alternative processes and procedures is not necessary. I would be in favor of granting the status of a special commission at the NSGK level and moving the matter forward”, he explained, stressing that the liberals will probably not be in a hurry to sign V. Bak’s draft resolution.

At that time, the representative of the other ruling coalition party, elder of the Freedom faction, Vytautas Mitalas, did not rule out that the Seimas could resolve the issue of the VSD investigation by means of a parliamentary commission.

“I would not reject such an idea, what my colleague proposes. However, from the very beginning, when we specified the questions to the Department of State Security, it was clear that those questions are of several types – some are of the genre of parliamentary control, VSD, other institutions, perhaps the Central Election Commission. But there are also topics that require one or another parliamentary level. It can be NSGK in a wider format or separate Seimas commission – I think it’s an open question. We will take a look,” V. Mitala explained the position of the faction to Eltai.

In the ranks of the opposition, opinions on the parliamentary investigation and its form also differ. The Chairman of the Labor Party, Andrius Mazuronis, claimed to Eltai that he saw no reason why the Seimas should start unraveling the circumstances of the VSD’s activities in 2019. during the presidential election campaign. Therefore, V. Bak’s initiative seems strange to him.

“The rulers are interested in starting a discussion that has nothing to do with reality. And I find it very strange that Bak is involved in this whole matter,” explained the leader of the “workers”.

The elder of the Mixed group of Seimas members also says that she does not understand V. Bak’s decisions Agnė Širinskienė.

“I was a bit surprised because at least we didn’t hear anything from his faction leadership last Tuesday when we were all here. (…) It is hard for me to imagine that the colleagues of the Mixed Group would be very supportive. Of course, we will discuss”, said the member of the Seimas.

“It seems strange,” she added.

The parliamentarians have no doubt that the authorities are trying to use the investigation into the activities of the VSD as a campaign tool for the upcoming presidential elections.

“I am very sorry that Bakas, a representative of the opposition, contributes to this. I am convinced that the large conservative faction of the ruling majority is directly interested in that investigation, because in this way they can remove the questions that are uncomfortable for them in the political discussion”, said the Chairman of the Labor Party.

“The election campaign will start in November. Obviously, if the commission were to start now, it would extend into the election campaign. This kind of diverse research on candidates during an election campaign looks really, really bad – especially since there was time to do the research beforehand. (…) For me, the election period practically makes a point”, emphasized A. Širinskienė.

Saulius Skvernelis, V. Bako’s colleague, the chairman of the Democratic Union “Vardan Lietuvos” (Vardan Lietuvos) also sees the risks related to the election campaign period of the country’s leader. However, the ex-premier believes that the situation is worth clarifying.

“We are entering the election period. Is now the best time? Is it not late? I don’t have an answer,” he mused.

“What the commission would investigate – if it was formed – it would be treated as a certain attribute of the election season. It would be difficult to find unity in the Seimas,” said the member of the Seimas.

According to the politician, the Democratic faction will make decisions after the NSGK meeting with the General Prosecutor’s Office on Wednesday.

“We will see after those decisions,” said the committee member.

“(V. Bakas – ELTA) behaves consistently. He has repeatedly raised these questions and so far no answers have been found. We will definitely discuss, but we will not hurry”, S. Skvernelis was not in a hurry to support his comrade’s initiative for now.

The idea to respond to journalists within the framework of the Seimas Birutė Davidonytė and in Dovydas Pancerov’s book “Speaker and PresidentThe raised questions were put aside for almost half a year. The Minister of Foreign Affairs, Gabrielius Landsbergis, was also surprised by this, when the parliament gathered for the first session of the autumn session in September.

However, the talk about this issue in the political backstage did not die down. On the sidelines of the Seimas, there was talk not only about the possible formats of the investigation of the activities of the VSD or the presidential election campaign – the ruling party considered whether the publicly stated intentions to check the transparency of G. Nausėda’s election campaign are not related to the country’s leader’s call to unify the sanctions against the citizens of Belarus and Russia. G. Nausėda is trying to distance himself from the suspicions raised in the mentioned book that during 2019 In the presidential elections, the then candidate’s election campaign was supported by representatives of the “Bulk Terminal” that worked with Belarusian fertilizers.

However, the opposition does not take such considerations seriously.

“It seems to me that there is no walkie-talkie. Those in power are once again stretching the facts to a political campaign,” said A. Mazuronis, noting that, in his opinion, the conservatives are trying to politicize.

“I’m not really a big fan of the president or anything, but it’s obvious what’s going on in this place,” he added.

A. Širinskienė seconded him, doubting such non-public deliberations.

“They create narratives and they do it constantly. In this case, I really don’t see any connections. (…) I don’t think that this is the president’s exclusive change of opinion,” she stressed.

At that time, S. Skvernelis did not comment further on the opinions circulating on the sidelines – he said that he had not yet heard of such discussions.

NSGK chairman L. Kasčiūnas did not engage in broader discussions about the prospects of the parliamentary investigation. He indicated that the committee will decide whether to ask the Seimas to grant the status of a special commission, or to support V. Bak’s proposal, after a meeting with representatives of the General Prosecutor’s Office.

“There are other angles of analysis that are always worth paying attention to. There are unanswered questions, they need to be answered”, said L. Kasčiūnas.

Discussions about a possible investigation in the parliament arose after the publication of the book “The Speaker and the President” by journalists D. Pancerov and B. Davidonytė, which reveals the possible illegal collection of data on private individuals by the VSD during the presidential election campaign. A lot of attention is also paid to the election campaign and the presidential period of the then candidate for the post of the country’s leader G. Nausėda.

However, despite the attention to history and the questions prepared by the ruling parties to both the VSD and the president and the Central Election Commission (CEC), the parliamentary investigation has not been launched so far.

After the General Prosecutor’s Office determined that in 2019 the appeal of a high-ranking intelligence officer – the whistleblower – addressed to the then chairman of the Seimas NSGK, V. Baku, was not properly examined, the question of the investigation was returned to the committee. At the beginning of the summer, NSGK and the General Prosecutor’s Office exchanged relevant data in order to assess whether there are still unanswered questions in the reporter’s history. However, at that time the chairman of the NSGK, L. Kasčiūnas, said that he believed that it was “only a matter of time” when the committee headed by him would be granted the statute of a special investigation commission.

The VSD management strictly rejects the public accusations that the intelligence gathered information illegally. The head of the department, Darius Jauniškis, claims that intelligence officers were interested in the environment of all presidential candidates during the pre-election period, and this, according to him, is a common practice.