According to the FNTT, the investigation was launched into suspected legalisation of proceeds from crime, fraud, misappropriation and squandering of property, bribery and graft.
It is suspected that a group of conspirators might have legalised at least EUR 17 million in 2023-2024. It is also thought that more than EUR 100,000 was paid in bribes "to certain employees" in an attempt to conceal the activities from institutions – the FNTT and the Bank of Lithuania. Law enforcement suspects that bribes were paid for concealing or destroying important data.
The investigation determined that the group might have also appropriated property that did not belong to them – specialised cryptocurrency mining equipment valued EUR 24 million that belonged to a foreign company.
The authorities also said searches had found large sums of cash, technical equipment and electronic information, as well as cryptocurrencies, property and artwork. The number of suspects may rise in the future, according to the FNTT which held a special press conference on Friday.
Investigation not related to elections
Director of the FNTT Rolandas Kiškis assured the media that the Foxpay case is not related to the election period.
"The operation has been planned for a long time. The timing coincided due to tactical considerations and the suspects’ feeling that this step would happen," he told reporters on Friday.
Kiškis also said there were no grounds to question Conservative MP Monika Navickienė, former social minister, who left her office due to her ties to Trinkūnaitė.
The FNTT chief rejected the idea put forward by some members of the Seimas opposition that the ruling party was trying to suppress the investigation.
"Nobody from the government has put any pressure on our institutions regarding the investigation and I find it hard to imagine that," he said.
"Working with our partners we started in autumn 2023," Kiškis said.
He added that all of the suspects are citizens of Lithuania but this investigation is part of an international probe.
Former minister is not involved in the investigation
Jovitas Raškevičius, deputy director of the Special Investigation Service (STT), said the law enforcement have no questions to former social security and labour minister Monika Navickienė in the pre-trial investigation into the Foxpay firm, provider of payment collection services to businesses and individuals.
"I would like to deny the public escalations – we have no questions and no claims against Ms Navickienė in the ongoing pre-trial investigation," Raškevičius told the press conference.
The STT official stressed that the pre-trial probe focuses on the activities of Foxpay, investigating possible illegal influence on public procurements.
Both the FNTT and STT confirmed on Friday that Mindaugas Navickas, husband of the ex-minister, had been detained.
News website 15min.lt reported that former minister Navickienė could not be reached on the phone on Friday. Its sources in law enforcement said that one of her phones was seized. The Office of the Seimas stated that the MP had been issued a SIM card but not a phone.
However, Navickienė informed ELTA that none of her items had been taken by law enforcement and that false information had been published.
Probe into Foxpay launched in July
As reported earlier, the Special Investigation Service (STT) in July opened a probe into Foxpay’s potentially opaque activities.
A governmental commission previously prevented Foxpay’s owner Ieva Trinkūnaitė from acquiring the company LITLAB, whose main shareholder is Mindaugas Navickas, the husband of former minister of social security and labour Monika Navickienė. Trinkūnaitė is Navickienė’s distant relative. The commission concluded that Trinkūnaitė did not meet the requirements of the Law the on Protection of Objects of Importance to Ensuring National Security.
The news website 15min.lt previously reported that Trinkūnaitė’s partner Vilhelmas Germanas had worked at LITLAB for some time, whereas both Germanas and Navickas also hired key staff of the company group iSun, founded by Trinkūnaitė.
Navickas was a member of Foxpay’s Board starting 2022. He was the CEO of the company since late 2023 to early 2024. He resigned from the board amid the inspection by the Bank of Lithuania.
Then minister Navickienė said that Trinkūnaitė is her distant relative, a sister-in-law’s sister. The politician claimed that the two interacted rarely and she was not aware that Germanas had been convicted for fraud in the past.
However, 15min.lt also discovered that in 2023 Navickienė took a private jet to Dubai together with Trinkūnaitė and Germanas, She resigned as minister of social security and labour when this information became public.
Foxpay is a provider of payment collection services to businesses and individuals.