Earlier reports said Minister of Energy Dainius Kreivys had 40% of shares in the company Catus, which in turn controlled more than 90% of the stake in Norteo. The latter had 6,000 shares of Ignitis worth around EUR 110,000.
According to LRT, CEO of Norteo Mindaugas Sinkevičius told the media about the sale of the stake, without elaborating further.
“The business decisions of the company you mentioned are a matter for the company’s management. The minister is not involved in any enterprise and is therefore not notified of the business decisions taken by the enterprises,” the Ministry of Energy said in a comment to the LRT news website.
In November 2022, LRT Investigation Team reported that not only Kreivys kad links with Ignitis Group. Deputy Finance Minister Norkūnas, who directly supervised Ignitis Group, also held shares and received dividends. He had only declared the fact of the purchase of the shares and his ongoing relationship with the company had not been made public until LRT reporters inquired about it.
The Chief Official Ethics Commission (VTEK) concluded that Norkūnas confused public and private interests as he failed to appropriately declare owning Ignitis shares and did not withdraw from handling matters related to the company’s activities. He stepped down as deputy finance minister following the VTEK conclusion.
The watchdog decided not to probe the actions of Minister Kreivys after all.