“Yesterday, the Financial Crime Investigation Service (FNTT) carried out certain procedural actions at the Labour Party’s headquarters in an ongoing investigation in which the party is not involved and which is not related to anyone of the current leadership or to individuals holding some positions in the party currently,” commented MP Mazuronis.
According to the Prosecutor General’s Office, the international investigation is overseen by the European Public Prosecutor’s Office.
The politician said he could not reveal details of the investigation but implied that it might be connected to its former leadership’s activities in the European Parliament.
“The situation suggests that in the nearest future the party will either have to change the leaders of the European Parliament candidate list or to replace the party’s chairman,” said Mazuronis.
Labour Party’s honorary chairman Viktor Uspaskikh is the sole representative of the party in the European Parliament. He will lead its list of candidates in June’s European elections.
MEP Viktor Uspaskikh is the founder of the Labour Party, which he had let intermittently since 2003. He was its member in 2003-2015, then promptly withdrew from it to return again in 2017. He was re-elected as its chairman in November 2021, but stepped down in the summer of 2022. He was an MEP in 2009-2012 and again since 2014.
In May 2006, Uspaskikh resigned as the Labour Party’s leader amid an investigation into the party’s fraudulent accounting. In 2013, leadership of the Labour Party, including Uspaskikh, was convicted of fraudulent accounting.
In 2023, the Labour Party was convicted of bribery and influence peddling in the MG Baltic corruption case. It was fined over EUR 300,000, while its former MP Vytautas Gapšys was convicted to 4 and half years in prison.
