True, on Tuesday, when she arrived at the session of the extraordinary session of the Seimas, the Head of the Government passed by the journalists without stopping to comment. Later, however, he left the hall and spoke about some of the most pressing issues. One of them is the purchases of the G. Landsbergis family.
“I think that politicians can be asked questions about their assets all the time, but in my opinion, the questions that are relevant in this case are whether the politician bought the assets with the funds he had and whether those funds were declared and whether those funds origin there are questions or not.
In my understanding, this is the attitude towards the wealth of politicians. Yes, politicians are, of course, public figures, they have to declare everything and various questions can be asked of politicians from the declarations.
It is not difficult to answer those questions”, explained I.Šimonytė.
For his part, Mr. Landsberg himself still did not react to the information that appeared in the media about his family’s purchase of a luxury villa on the Greek island of Aegina in early 2022. This was reported on Friday by the newspaper “Lietuvos rytas”, which managed to find the politician’s secret residence.
Journalists immediately bombarded the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MFA) with questions after this publication, but did not receive any response until Tuesday.
The opportunity to interview the conservative leader finally came on Tuesday, as an extraordinary parliamentary session was held in the Seimas. G. Landsberg’s agenda indicated that the minister intended to participate in it. The extraordinary meeting started at noon, but G. Landsberg’s seat remained empty.
Finally, it turned out that on Friday, when the publication about his family’s villa in Greece appeared, he asked Prime Minister I. Šimonytė for an additional week of vacation. As indicated on the Government’s website, the Prime Minister signed a decree on Friday, which released G. Landsbergis on unpaid leave on August 12-14 and 16.
The Minister of Foreign Affairs was on vacation last week as well, it is true that these were his scheduled days off.
The opposition has already prepared a stack of questions for the minister. Signatures were collected in the Seimas on Tuesday, obliging G. Landsbergis to publicly answer the questions prepared by the opposition in the parliamentary meeting hall. This initiative was taken by the representative of the Mixed Group of Parliamentarians, Agnė Širinskienė.
Only ten members of the Seimas had to sign the document, so A. Širinskienė collected the signatures easily. However, G. Landsbergis will have time to prepare until the fall, when the new parliamentary work season begins.
“Lietuvos rytas” found out that shortly after Russia attacked Ukraine, G. Landsberg’s family bought a luxurious residence on one of the islands belonging to Greece. Impressive real estate – buildings and a large plot of land – is registered in the name of the politician’s wife Austėja Landsbergienė.
A. Landsbergienė, the wife of the minister, purchased a large plot of land and two buildings on it – a 313 square meter house with two outdoor terraces and a 23 square meter house – in 2022. Announced, 255 thousand. an advance of EUR 100,000 was paid in February of that year.
Rumors about the residence of the minister’s family abroad have been circulating for some time, but the politician and his wife persistently hid it.
The 2022 and 2023 asset declarations submitted by 46-year-old A. Landsbergienė fueled the speculation even more. A businesswoman managing a network of private educational institutions declared that she owns real estate abroad worth 795 thousand. euros.
Even then, G. Landsbergis and his wife avoided talking to journalists about the property they bought abroad, and when they received questions about it, they did not answer them directly, instead they were silent.
“Minister, you talk a lot about the threats of war and at the same time your family declares high-value real estate purchased abroad. I want to ask, in which country was that property purchased?” asked peasant Aurelijus Veryga in the Seimas meeting hall in April.
The leader of the conservatives again avoided direct answers and urged the peasant less to browse pro-Russian pages and distribute their content.
“What you are saying is not true and it has been denied publicly. What is declared is declared, but everything else you say is untrue”, G. Landsbergis retorted and added that until now he considered A. Verygas a decent person, and whether his opinion will change will depend on the efforts of this politician.
As “Lietuvos rytas” reports after visiting the island of Aegina, the Landsbergi residence is well hidden from prying eyes. As you pass by, you can’t see either the villa or the yard of the Lithuanian politician’s family. Everything is surrounded by a high brick fence.
The only narrow road leading to the house ends at the gate.
2024-08-13 22:42:09