Corruption in Lithuania

According to the Corruption Perceptions Index 2019, Lithuania ranks 35th out of 180 countries[1] in the world and 15th out of 28 European Union countries.[2] Freedom in the World 2020 report by Freedom House notes that corruption remains an issue in Lithuania, but gives high score for the main related areas: strong and effective safeguards against official corruption (3 out of 4), government openness and transparency (3 out of 4), independent judiciary (3 out of 4).[3]

European Research Centre for Anti-Corruption and State-Building (ERCAS) notes that while Lithuania has a comprehensive anti-corruption legal base established, the law enforcement institutions are weak.[4] In the Public Integrity Index 2019, published by the centre, Lithuania ranks 30th out of 117 countries.[5]

According to the Flash Eurobarometer 482: Businesses' attitudes towards corruption in the EU, published by the European Commission, only 15% of business executives noted corruption as a problem when doing business.[6] Lithuanian Map of Corruption 2019 report, published by STT, notes that the percentage of businesses that paid a bribe has been gradually decreasing over the last decades, with only 9% of business paying it in the last 5 years and 5% in the last 12 months.[7]

According to a Baltijos tyrimai poll in 2019, police was trusted by 69% of people, Constitutional Court of Lithuania by 62%, STT by 55%.[8] However, only 39% of people trusted the prosecutors and 33% trusted courts. A survey conducted by Vilmorus in 2020 shown that most corrupt areas perceived by respondents were: healthcare (47%), courts (37%) and the parliament (30%).[9] The same survey notes that Lithuanians regard corruption as the fourth most acute problem in the country. Only 3% of the people surveyed admitted giving a bribe in the previous year.

Special Investigation Service (Lithuanian: Specialiųjų tyrimų tarnyba) is the main law enforcement institution in Lithuania to combat corruption. Other law enforcement institutions also play a major role in combating the corruption. In particular, Financial Crime Investigation Service investigates money laundering and major financial fraud activities. National Audit Office of Lithuania (Lithuanian: Valstybės kontrolė) is the supreme audit institution which also supervises the lawfulness and effectiveness of management and use of state funds and resources.[11]

In 2019, the Law on Protection of Whistleblowers entered force, providing legal protection as well as remunerations and other measures for those who report corruption or other infringements.[12] Lobbying in Lithuania is regulated by the Lobbying Act 2001.[13] According to the EU Members' Research Service report from 2016, Lithuania is one of the few EU countries which has the code of conduct and a mandatory register for the lobbyists.[14]

Lithuania participates in:

• The Group of States against Corruption (GRECO) (founding state; 1 May 1999)[15]
• UN Convention against Transnational Organized Crime (ratified on 9 May 2002)[16]
• Council of Europe Criminal Law Convention on Corruption (ratified on 8 March 2002)[17]
• Council of Europe Civil Law Convention on Corruption (ratified on 17 January 2003)[18]
• United Nations Convention against Corruption (ratified on 21 December 2006)[19]
• International Anti-Corruption Academy (IACA) (ratified on 22 March 2013)[20]
• OECD Anti-Bribery Convention (ratified on 16 May 2017)

Nepotism is a very visible problem in Lithuanian society.[21][22] It exists in all levels of society and especially in the public sector. The Lithuanian language even has an expression about nepotism: "Lietuva yra giminių kraštas" (Lithuania is a country of relatives).[23]

An investigation by Kauno diena found tens of municipality positions filled based on friendships or kinship.[24] At least a quarter of employees of Marijampolė municipality have relatives filling local governmental jobs.[25][26] There is little in the way of punishment for nepotism. In a 2016 study by STT, nearly half of public officials claimed that they have experienced pressure to employ somebody based on their political party membership.[27] A politician of a small village bragged on her Facebook profile about ability to get jobs based on her political connections.[28]

Loreta Graužinienė, a former speaker of the parliament, gave her hairdresser's daughter a job in the parliament.[29] Member of the parliament Greta Kildišienė employed her photographer in the parliament. When Lietuvos rytas investigated the issue, it turned out that the photographer was receiving a salary, but nobody in the parliament knew who she was, what she did, and had not seen her.[30] Parliamentarian Kestutis Pukas employed his lawyer's wife as his advisor.[31]

The vice minister of Ministry of Social Security and Labour arranged employments in Prienai public retirement home for many of her close relatives.[32] A 15 min study discovered that one in six employees of Registrų centras are relatives.[33] Another study by Delfi found that 34% of employees of Kauno regiono keliai are relatives. The entire construction and road public sector was highly influenced by nepotism.[23] The internal audit of public road builder "Automagistralė" revealed that some of the work was done in order to benefit the CEO, e.g. to build his mother's house.[34]

Nepotism bands are also prevalent between public entities and their partners and suppliers in the private sector, which increases risk for corruption in public procurement. The high percentage of unofficial and unannounced public procurement tenders is another contributing factor – the percentage of unannounced public procurement contracts in Lithuania is 5 times above the EU average.[35] When Lithuanian Railways investigated a possible damage of 5 million euros through procurement contracts, they discovered that 40% of employees had close kinship bands to suppliers and partners.[36] Suppliers and partners with kinship bands to Lithuanian Railways employees were consistently promoted and prioritized.[37] Many of the public procurement scandals revolving about inflated prices involved nepotism – Šilainių hospital contracts,[38] Kaunas prison contracts,[39][40] the many scandals surrounding Gintautas Kėvišas family,[41] etc.

• Transparency International - Country data - Lithuania