2024-07-22 15:53:06
They have not yet been sent behind bars because the Supreme Court has stayed the execution of the sentence. The court sentenced Arturas Urbučius, a shareholder of the Naftos grupė company, to the payer of the bribe, to 6 years of imprisonment and almost 11,000 fines. euro fine.
R. Milvydas, who accepted the bribe, was sentenced to three years in prison, 3 million. EUR bribe will be confiscated.
It is believed that after the full execution of the sentence in this case, tens of millions of euros will go to the state budget – this amount consists of fines, confiscated record bribes, other confiscated sums of money, etc.
“In the case, it was definitely proven that Arturas Urbutis offered and gave Ričardas Milvydas, the commercial director of Klaipėdos nafta, to a person who is considered a civil servant, and the latter agreed to accept a bribe. An account was opened in a Swiss bank and 3 million was accepted. A bribe worth 247,194 euros and 175,000 US dollars for making favorable decisions in favor of UAB “Naftos grupė”, said Judge Regina Pocienė of the Court of Appeal of Lithuania during the hearing on July 3.
Since the judgment of the Court of Appeal takes effect immediately, the convicts should have already gone behind bars: the case has already been returned to the Klaipėda District Court for the execution of the sentence, the police was handed over the executive document, but the convicts appealed the sentence to the Supreme Court of Lithuania.
“The Supreme Court of Lithuania has received the cassation appeals of the convicts A. and A. Urbučiai, so the case has been sent again. Since the convicts asked to suspend the execution of the verdict on the final imprisonment sentences and the Supreme Court of Lithuania granted the request, the police was informed about the suspension”, Gintarė Daugėlaitė, representative of the Klaipėda District Court, informed Elta.
According to her, the property of the convicts is subject to a temporary restriction of ownership until this judgment on the civil claims is carried out.
“Parts of the judgment regarding the confiscation of property (recovering sums of money corresponding to the value of the property to be confiscated) have been submitted to the bailiff for enforcement,” said the court representative.
Other fines can be paid by installments, some by September 3.
Naftos grupė, which received a fine of almost one million euros, can cover it within a year.
Since the deadlines have not passed, the court has not issued executive documents, there is no reason to apply to the bailiffs. The Court of Appeal of Lithuania examined the case regarding the embezzlement of assets of UAB “Naftos grupė” of high value and the legalization of criminally obtained assets for six years.
Two long-lasting forensic examinations were appointed in the case, panels of judges were changed, and the restrictions applied in the state due to the COVID-19 pandemic extended the trial.
Given this length of time, the convicts were given lesser sentences. The appellate court noted that Arturas Urbutis was the main perpetrator of criminal acts (the embezzlement of more than 12 million euros of UAB “Naftos grupė” assets, the legalization of almost 11 million euros of criminally obtained assets, the production of a large number of fake documents, the falsification and use of real documents, organizer and coordinator of fraudulent company accounting management and evasion of payment of high-value profit tax.
In addition, he created Jurgis Aušras to abuse his official position, periodically offered and gave R. Milvydas more than 3 million. euro bribe.
Two former mayors were convicted
Two former mayors were also sentenced in this case – J. Aušra previously served as the mayor of Klaipėda. At the time of committing the crimes, he was the head of the state company Klaipėdos Nafta.
Andrejus Vaičiulis was the first mayor of Neringa municipality after the restoration of independence.
At the time of committing the criminal acts, he headed the Klaipėda region branch of Šiauliai bankas.
A. Vaičiulis was the father-in-law of Arturo Urbutis, the main organizer of criminal acts.
The court found that J. Aušra did not act in the interests of the company “Klaipėdos nafta” he manages, but in the interests of “Naftos grupė”, as a result of which “Klaipėdos nafta” suffered almost 600 thousand. EUR property damage.
11 thousand was allocated to J. Aušra. A fine of 298 euros, and A. Vaičiuli, recognized by the court not as an assistant, but as an instigator of J. Aušra’s abuse of his official position, 10,000. A fine of 921 euros, that is, the maximum fine in force at the time of the crime.
J. Aušra has already paid the fine imposed by the court.
The panel of judges awarded 941 thousand to the company Naftos Grupė. A fine of 500 euros, and the company “Artilona” – a little more than 50 thousand. euro fine.
In addition, almost 12.5 million was confiscated from the brothers Artur and Antanas Urbučias and Svetlana Popova by the judgment of the court of appeal. euros.
It is hoped that the state will be able to collect and claim the sums awarded by the court.
“During the pre-trial investigation, the ownership rights of the suspects (currently convicted Arturo Urbučis, Antanas Urbučis, Ričardas Milvydas (for bribery), the legal entity Naftos grupė UAB, etc.) to their movable and immovable property, which may be it will be enough to cover the sums awarded in the verdict”, reads the reply of the representative of the General Prosecutor’s Office, Rita Stundienė, to Elta.
According to her, the value of most of the property was taken from the Registry data.
“It is noteworthy that a very important moment is how the sale of that property will take place and how much it will be sold for,” says the representative of the prosecutor’s office.
Arturas Urbutis was a shareholder of the company “Naftos grupė”, the general director of the company was his brother Antanas Urbutis.
“It has been proven without a doubt that the convicted persons Antanas Urbutis and Artūras Urbutis forged the representation and service provision agreement drawn up between the closed joint-stock company Naftos grupė, WORLDEX LLC and GAUGLER AG, which were registered in a foreign country, in the preferential taxation zone, as well as forged works acceptance-handover acts, invoices and used them.
On the basis of these falsified documents, UAB “Naftos grupė” falsified tax declarations, which they submitted to the tax administrator in order to avoid paying profit tax.
Thus, the state made a large 2 mln. 300 thousand 909 euros in property damage,” the Court of Appeal announced. WORLDEX LLC was a preferential taxation company, it was established in Alaska, another preferential taxation company GAUGLER AG operated in Switzerland.
According to the court, on the basis of forged invoices, money transfers totaling 12 million were made from the accounts of UAB Naftos grupė to the accounts of the above-mentioned preferential taxation companies managed by Arturas Urbutis, while the WORLDEX LLC account was simultaneously managed by S. Popova. 406 thousand for the amount of 804 euros.
The brothers Urbučiai and S. Popova embezzled this money.
“After that, Arturas Urbutis and S. Popova, knowing that the money was obtained in a criminal way, over 11 million EUR legalized by transferring this money to the bank accounts of other companies managed by Arturo Urbutis, which he used to hide criminal acts, or by cashing them in various financial transactions,” the court announced.
The judgment of the Court of Appeal stated that Arturas Urbutis, being the main shareholder of “Naftos grupė”, together with his father-in-law A. Vaičiulis, using personal connections and seeking benefits for himself and the company “Naftos grupė”, created the general director of the company “Klaipėdos nafta” J. Aušra abusing the service and squandering high-value assets – 603 thousand. 130 euros property right.
J. Aušra, motivated to commit a crime due to the actions of Artur Urbutis and A. Vaičiulis, acted for the benefit of “Nafta Gupė” at the expense of his own company “Klaipėdos Nafta”, squandered the aforementioned property right, intentionally canceled the accounts, canceling the claim to pay for the downtime of tank wagons caused by ” “Naftos grupas” fault, therefore “Klaipėdas nafta” suffered a lot of damage.
Evidence was collected secretly, STT, FNTT, prosecutor’s office worked
Court documents show that law enforcement officials secretly collected part of the case’s evidence, wiretapping took place, and suspects’ conversations were secretly listened to since 2007. December 29 until 2010 July 17
It is written in the court documents that the then director of the Special Investigation Service (STT), when addressing the Prosecutor General regarding the secret control of information transmitted through telecommunication networks, indicated that the STT is conducting an operational investigation into the possible intermediation of several individuals in the form of bribery, bribery, fraudulent accounting and fraud on a large scale. however, the signs of criminal acts have not been identified and the pre-trial investigation has not been started, because the suspects adhere to a conspiracy, communicate closely only with reliable and previously verified persons in their environment, are familiar with operational methods, therefore, in order to collect additional evidence of possible crimes, it is necessary to carry out technical measures in a special way order
In 2010, the Deputy Chief of the Special Tasks Department of the Financial Crimes Investigation Service (FNTT) April 9 in the certificate “Regarding the results of operational actions and operational investigation” it was stated that, during the operational investigation, data was obtained that the person, when meeting with clients, often invites the commercial director of Klaipėdos Naftas, who possibly receives his percentage from illegal money, therefore in all tries to maintain exclusive rights for “Nafta Group”, although in reality “Klaipėdos Nafta” could manage the entire business without any intermediaries.
“Also, during the wiretapping of telephone conversations, it was revealed that BB’s father-in-law EE, who is the head of the Klaipėda branch of Šiaulių bankas and has known GG for a long time, handles all business matters with GG. For favorable business conditions, UAB “YY” BB may be constantly paying GG through his father-in-law a certain amount of money. In the presence of these data, it is necessary to control the telephone conversations of the mentioned persons”, said FNTT (The initials of the persons were depersonalized and changed by the court – ELTA).
In January of this year, the joint-stock company “Klaipėdos nafta” (KN) changed its legal name to “KN Energies”.
The new name is aimed at other countries where the company is actively developing its activities.
“Having accumulated more than 60 years of experience in the field of handling and storage of oil and its products, KN is starting a journey of energy transformation. Taking into account global energy trends, customers’ needs for sustainable growth and competitiveness, the company adapts its activities in order to create a sustainable energy future. KN’s future is not limited to the handling of petroleum products or liquefied natural gas.
We are ready for the challenge – we aim to make our operations climate neutral by 2050, transition from fossil fuels to future energy types and continue to successfully create value in the energy sector – both ensuring energy security and financial returns for shareholders. KN is ready not only to participate in the energy transformation process of Lithuania and the region, but also to share its worldwide practical experience and competence”, KN Energies now announces.
2024-07-22 15:53:06