Representatives of the Special Investigation Service (STT), the Ministry of Justice and the Office of the Prosecutor General participated in a meeting of the OECD Working Group on Bribery in International Business Transactions held in Paris. During the meeting, Lithuania’s Phase 3 two-year follow-up report was discussed and approved. Of the 49 recommendations addressed to Lithuania, only 8 were not implemented, while the measures taken were assessed as having a tangible impact.
The OECD report reviews actions taken since December 2023 to implement the 49 recommendations issued to Lithuania and to address follow-up issues identified during the evaluation. The Working Group concluded that Lithuania has fully implemented 27 recommendations, partially implemented 14 recommendations, and not implemented 8 recommendations.
The report positively assesses the active training initiatives carried out by the STT and other institutions for law enforcement officers, prosecutors and judges on issues related to foreign bribery, asset recovery, the imposition of sanctions and other penalties. It also highlights the dissemination of methodological and other relevant information on foreign bribery to specialised authorities, diplomats and the business community. The OECD Working Group welcomed Lithuania’s active monitoring of both domestic and foreign media, the inclusion of foreign bribery risks in the National Risk Assessment on Money Laundering and Terrorist Financing, and the implementation of recommendations related to the detection of bribery through suspicious transaction reports, accounting and audit processes.
The Working Group also emphasised the obligation of politicians to ensure the independence of law enforcement authorities by refraining from any pressure in relation to specific investigations, as well as the need to allocate sufficient resources for the investigation of foreign bribery cases.
In assessing progress, the OECD Working Group continues to express concern regarding the non-implementation of a priority recommendation to remove the requirement that the criminal liability of a legal person be linked to the knowledge, approval or tolerance of the criminal conduct by a shareholder of the legal person. The Working Group also encourages the proactive investigation of foreign bribery offences, the strengthening of whistleblower protection and the tightening of sanctions for retaliatory actions against whistleblowers.
The Working Group will continue to monitor Lithuania’s progress in addressing the remaining unimplemented recommendations.
The full OECD report is available here.
