“August 21 at the upcoming general meeting of shareholders, I will publicly ask for permission to sell my own shares. I am sure that the remaining and new shareholders will take this lesson of mine very seriously and protect the company’s reputation in the future,” G. Ratkevičius announced in a letter distributed to Contribee users on Tuesday.
“I understand that even before the final decision is reached, the reputational damage to the company has already been done. This is the biggest mistake I have made in my life, for which I have no choice but to completely withdraw from the Contribee project, which I have been working on for several years, because I understand that this is the only way that can save the project itself,” the former head of the company testified.
G.Ratkevičius, who was dismissed from the position of company director, also adds that he takes “full responsibility” for the situation in the company. According to him, the current head of the company, Adrijus Jakučionis, is in no way related to the accusations, because he had the same information as the rest of the shareholders.
“Regarding the composition and legality of the loan – I believe that the legal institutions have collected the most information and their verdict will, in any case, be final,” said G. Ratkevičius, referring to the results of the investigation conducted by the prosecutor’s office.
“Most of all, I want to personally and sincerely apologize to all the creators who trusted the Contribee platform, got their start here, or migrated from the Patreon platform and are currently experiencing inconvenience and financial loss,” he added.
Attorney General: The pre-trial investigation into Contribee’s activities is in full swing
Prosecutor General Nida Grunskienė says that because of Contribee’s activities, pre-trial investigation actions are currently being intensively carried out under two articles of the Criminal Code (PC) – embezzlement and fraudulent accounting. According to the prosecutor, no one has been charged yet.
“The pre-trial investigation was started in m. March 7 under two articles of the Penal Code, namely embezzlement and fraudulent accounting. The actions of the pre-trial investigation are being intensively carried out, as far as I know, no one has been charged with the allegations,” N. Grunskienė told reporters in the Seimas on Tuesday.
N. Grunskienė testified that she could not name the amount of money in this story.
More than 130 thousand were embezzled from the “Blue/Yellow” account. euros
During the prosecution’s 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 G. 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.
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 provided financial reports 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.
2024-08-13 15:30:37