“No, we certainly won’t. Once upon a time, such a conspiracy theory was created that now either “Laisvės TV” (…), or “Laisvės Media Group”, or any other company of ours (to be created – ELTA) will create some kind of system and then start attracting customers from Contribee” , – A. Tapin said on Tuesday in the “Business Approach” program of “Delfi”.
On his Facebook account, A. Tapinas wrote that after learning about the possibly non-transparent processes taking place in Contribee, he considered the possibility of Laisvės Media Group, which owns Laisvės TV, buying out the company’s shares. However, as the publicist added, after receiving suspicions from the chairman of the board of Contribee that such a move by A. Tapinas looks like “contributing to the takeover of the company’s activities”, Laisvės Media Group refused such intentions.
“Laisvės TV’s only interest was to avoid financial losses and to find solutions on how the Contribee conflict can be resolved and the company’s activities continue transparently and clearly,” the publicist wrote.
“However, I think that a reliable, sustainable system like this is really very expensive. And if you don’t plan to do business, there are probably unreasonable investments here,” A. Tapinas testified on Tuesday.
After information appeared in the media about the investigations carried out by the prosecutor’s office related to Contribee, the Redakcija platform founded by journalists Rita Miliūtė and Birutė Davidonytė, the investigative journalism center Siena, and Dailius Dargis, who creates content about criminals, announced their withdrawal from the platform this week.
“There are platforms that work, we check them. (…) You just need to diversify your supporters, create content and bring them back – whether to “Laisvės TV”, or “Redakcija”, or “Siena”, or to Dailių Dargis, or elsewhere”, said “Laisvės” TV” founder.
As the publicist added, “Laisvės TV” itself decided to diversify the collection of support for its activities and in the future to do it on two platforms.
“There was a situation where one person basically took the entire system hostage and caused really considerable losses that will have to be licked off. But I think the situation in the ecosystem will be resolved, we’ll get over it and continue working,” noted the public figure.
Prosecutor General Nida Grunskienė also told reporters in the Seimas on Tuesday that no accusations have been made against anyone while the prosecutor’s office is conducting an investigation related to the crowdfunding platform Contribee.
On Monday, blogger Skirmantas Malinauskas announced that the former director of the company, Gediminas Ratkevičius, embezzled more than 130,000 from the account of the non-governmental organization Blue/Yellow, which uses the platform. euros.
As indicated by the organization itself, the lack of a certain amount in the account was noticed at the beginning of the year, but after contacting Contribee, the funds were returned, so the organization did not experience any losses.
As the news portal “Delfi” announced, the director of the company Adrijus Jakučionis sent a letter informing developers using the platform about the circumstances of the dismissal of the former manager Gediminas Ratkevičius. It was alleged that one of Contribee’s shareholders was relieved of his duties because he entered into a loan agreement with the company.
G. Ratkevičius himself announced his plans to sell the shares of the platform “Contribee” on Tuesday, at the same time he took full responsibility for the situation in the company. G. Ratkevičius intends to apply for permission to sell shares on August 21. at the upcoming general meeting of shareholders of Contribee.
According to A. Jakučionis, in the past Contribee also did not submit financial declarations on time. As the State Tax Inspectorate (VMI) told the portal, the company’s tax arrears amount to 73 thousand. euros. At the end of June this year, the company owed Sodra 3.2 thousand. euros, and on August 8 the debt was only 6 euros.
Contribee last submitted financial statements to the Registry Center for the year 2021, when the company’s losses amounted to more than 51 thousand. EUR, income amounted to 26.9 thousand. euros.
According to the portal, Contribee has 13 shareholders: 31.5 percent. belongs to A. Jakučioni, 30.34 percent. – G. Ratkevičius, 16 percent. – To Mantas Michalauskas, who founded the company in 2020. Another 10.5 percent the company’s shares are held by the Second Co-investment Fund, the rest by smaller investors.
Lithuanian developers began to switch to Contribee more and more in 2022, when after the start of the war in Ukraine, its competitor, the American platform Patreon, did not allow Ukrainian soldiers to transfer support.
2024-08-14 05:59:57