After scandalous Raudondvaris Manor findings, mayor asks financial crimes service to investigate

Raudondvaris Manor bought goods and services from a company owned by its own deputy director, prompting the Kaunas District mayor to seek investigations by several state institutions. The manor’s acting director and the deputy director have both been suspended while the circumstances are examined.

The purchases were made public by Mindaugas Lingė, a conservative member of Lithuania’s parliament. According to information he cited, Egidijus Morkūnas has served as the manor’s deputy director for economic affairs since 2009. He is also the sole shareholder of the company “Dvyniai ir Ko.”

Lingė said the manor concluded 29 public procurement contracts with Morkūnas’s company from 2022 to 2026. Their combined value exceeded €71,000, and all the contracts were awarded without a competitive tender, according to the lawmaker’s data. Morkūnas ended a phone call after hearing who was calling, while acting director Kotryna Inga Morkūnaitė did not answer calls or respond to written questions.

Kaunas District Municipality, which controls the manor, said Mayor Valerijus Makūnas had contacted the Public Procurement Office, the Chief Official Ethics Commission and the Financial Crime Investigation Service. He asked the institutions to assess the reported circumstances within their respective areas and determine whether procurement rules had been breached.

The municipality said it would provide all documents needed for the reviews and take legal and administrative action if violations were established. “The position of the Kaunas District mayor is clear: the activities of municipal institutions must be transparent, and public funds must be used in accordance with the law, the principles of openness and the prevention of conflicts of interest,” the municipality said.

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The position of the Kaunas District mayor is clear: the activities of municipal institutions must be transparent, and public funds must be used in accordance with the law, the principles of openness and the prevention of conflicts of interest.