The citizen of the Russian Federation, who sought to obtain for a bride a multiple-entry Schengen visa, and Rimantas Šidlauskas, former Lithuanian Ambassador to Russia, and then the head of one business association, who assisted that citizen of the Russian Federation, heard a conviction that was handed down against them.
After having examined the criminal case, the District Court of Vilnius City has found R. Šidlauskas guilty of influence peddling. The court imposed on him a final fine of 16,500 EUR. 3,000 euros received as a bribe will also be confiscated from R. Šidlauskas. The former ambassador and the head of one business association was also imposed with a coercive measure - he was deprived for a period of five years of the right to hold management positions in the public and private sectors.
R. N., the shareholder of one bank of the Russian Federation, who sought to obtain for a bribe multiple Russian visas for himself and for his son, was found by the court guilty of influence peddling. A final fine of 13,700 EUR was imposed on him.
The businessman A. B., who is the third defendant in the case, was acquitted by the court as not having committed an offence having characteristics of a crime or a misdemeanor. The defendant A. B. died last year when the case was pending before the court. The proceedings against him were continued on rehabilitative grounds.
The pre-trial investigation in this case was carried out by officials of the Special Investigation Service, it was led and the public prosecution in the case was upheld by the prosecutor of the Organised Crime and Corruption Investigation Division of Vilnius Regional Prosecutor's Office.
The court found that in 2019, for personal material benefit, R. Šidlauskas, then the head of one business association, directly demanded and agreed to take a bribe, for his own benefit and allegedly for the benefit of others, from the persons he knew - the businessman A.B. and R.N, the shareholder of the Bank of the Russian Federation. R. Šidlauskas promised to affect, in exchange for that, the then Ambassador of the Republic of Lithuania to the Russian Federation, by taking advantage of his own public position, acquaintances, and possible influence, so that the Ambassador, lawfully exercising his powers, would issue multiple-entry Schengen visas to R.N., the citizen of the Russian Federation, and to his son.
According to the data available in the case file, he was given a bribe of 3,000 EUR.
