We will submit evidence to the court of a higher instance in a biased redundancy case

Daivis Zabulionis, former head of Lithuanian Road Administration, appealed the decision of Vilnius District Administrative Court according to which his dismissal from office was legitimate.

Albertas Kručkauskas, chief partner of the Professional Association of Lawyers Kručkauskas, Blaškevičius, Gruodis and Partners ConsulTax who represents D. Zabulionis, states that the case is to be regarded as biased. 

“We will request the court of a higher instance to draw attention to and evaluate the fact that neither statement of the conclusion of the official investigation has legal basis. This means that in the absence of the evidence about official misconduct or the threat caused to the reputation the officer is accused of nothing and misleading conclusions are written down on the basis of which he is dismissed immediately.” 

According to the Attorney A. Kručkauskas, the practice of unjustified dismissal of an officer destroys the perception of justice as the main value of the state. The lawyer considers that if such actions are not prevented, the chain reaction may derive in the state and also other unwanted officers may be dismissed by gross violations of the law. 

According to the lawyer, after assessment of the evidence submitted to the court, it might be concluded that the Deputy Director of the Lithuanian Road Administration was dismissed only because of his acquaintance with Raimundas Kurlianskis, Vice-President of the concern MG Baltic who is evaluated controversially because of the accusations against him in a corruption case.

D. Zabulionis, former Deputy Director of Lithuanian Road Administration was dismissed on March 6, 2017 after receipt of the certificate by the Special Investigation Service (SIS). 

Attorney A. Kručkauskas emphasizes that the reason of dismissal was the acquaintance of D. Zabulionis with R. Kurlianskis, Vice-President of the concern MG Baltic. According to the lawyer, the conclusions of the official inspection and the order for dismissal were signed immediately and the whole investigation lasted only 2-3 hours; therefore, a comprehensive investigation was not performed and there were no evidence proving any illegal acts of D. Zabulionis. 

According to the laws, each officer is entitled to lawful and objective investigation process of accusations made against him. The Attorney A. Kručkauskas states that the state officials must not be dismissed only because of the fact that they are familiar from their youth or communicate with a person who is evaluated controversially. 

Under Article 3 of the Decision of the Government of the Republic of Lithuania No. 977 “On the Rules of Imposition of Service Sanctions on Civil Servants”, it is determined that the investigation of the official misconduct shall be commenced within 5 business days after receipt of official information on the possible official misconduct of the civil servant. According to Article 5 of these Rules, the special commission must be appointed to investigate a possible official misconduct of the civil servant.

Under Article 7 of the Rules it is determined that the commission of investigation of official misconduct concludes a notification on official misconduct within 5 business days after the commission is made. By this notification the commission informs the state official who is suspected of official misconduct about the commencement of investigation of such official misconduct and submits to the state official the information if possesses about official misconduct. According to Article 8 of the Rules, the state official who is suspected of official misconduct may submit a written explanation to the commission regarding the official misconduct no later than within 5 business days after receipt of the notification determined under Article 7 of the Rules. 

According to the applicant’s Attorney, the dismissal of D. Zabulionis was effected by gross violation of the laws. The applicant aims to regain the income lost because of dismissal and to return to his previous position.