Министр обороны Литвы: любое вмешательство отдельных политиков в госзакупки всегда вызывает различные мысли

So he explained his statements after Saturday’s meeting with President Gitanas Nauseda — as the politician assured, during the implementation of the anti-corruption policy at the Ministry of Defense, he encountered «cases of gross interference in public procurement».

«Unfortunately, undisclosed lobbying has not yet been eradicated in our policy. Despite the existing law, some politicians openly declare their meetings, while others do not disclose them at all. We know that politicians receive questions that they should ask the organizing institutions of public procurement. There is no need to be surprised — this is the reality,» said A. Anusauskas on Monday to radio station LRT.

«And it is this reality that the defense system was able to resist,» he added.

A. Anusauskas reiterated that when he started working as a minister at the Ministry of Defense, he took on a clear anti-corruption agenda. According to him, there were cases where ministry employees reported suspicious attempts to influence or interfere with public procurement.

«National security concludes thousands of deals a year. These were isolated cases. In any case, I think we acted on principle and such deals did not materialize,» said A. Anusauskas.

«Employees informed us, and, of course, there were no further attempts,» he added.

However, the minister acknowledged that the Ministry of Defense consulted with the Special Investigation Service (SIS) and asked for recommendations on how to act in the aforementioned situations.

«I can only confirm — yes, we had to communicate with the SIS, ask for recommendations. However, I can say one thing — any interference by individual politicians in ongoing public procurement always evokes different thoughts,» explained the government member.