Vydūnas Sadauskas 10 Answers to Vinokur's Deductions About Arthur Zuokas and the Capital

First, Artūras Zuokas, being the mayor of the capital back in 2000, turned Vilnius clearly towards the West and returned the leadership of the capital to the region and Vilnius became one of the fastest growing cities in the Baltic States, attractive for investors and business It created thousands of new jobs, and the best proof of this is the right bank of the Neris, which at that time became the largest construction site in the Baltic States.

In 2015, investments in the development of this project reached 175 million euros.

Secondly, Artūras Zuokas will always be the politician who managed to increase the budget of the capital even without having a "roof" in the Seimas or the Government The capital under his leadership had to litigate with the Government regarding the reduced personal income tax for Vilnius.

After the decision of the Constitutional Court, the Government compensated almost 56 million euros to the people of Vilnius for that period, when the mayor was Artūras Zuokas And the most important thing is that the budget methodology was refined, thus the Vilnius budget grew almost 3 times during the 2 terms of office and now exceeds 1.

2 billion euros Thirdly, the State Security Department's report to the National Security Committee of the Seimas, made public in 2018, contains the entire story of how it was decided to eliminate his main competitor - the then mayor of Vilnius, Artūras Zuokas.

It was decided to split the Union of Liberals and the Center led by Artūrs Zuoks It is publicly recognized (even journalists admitted) that at that time mud was not poured on A.

Zuokas with buckets, but with cisterns And the temporary commission of the Seimas "to investigate possible corruption in the Vilnius city municipality" also clearly noted that it "does not legally decide and evaluate" any actions of A.

Zuokas All those labels like "subscriber", "thief" was the result of a well-prepared "black PR".

Fourthly, Artūras Zuokas has been investigated and checked many times by the country's institutions, as well as the activities of the Vilnius municipality or its companies during his administration, not to mention his entire environment Such accusations of interested persons against A.

Zuoka Have Not Been Established A

Zuokas was also not accused or suspected of illegally representing Veolia's interests, or receiving even more illegal payments from it Fifth, the Vilnius heat network rental tender, which was won by the Western French company Dalkia/Veolia, was a tectonic geopolitical break in the Lithuanian energy system, which was dominated by Russian companies and their intermediaries in Lithuania.

The modern management and investments of a western company from France helped to modernize and save the heating networks of Vilnius from debt, as happened in Kaunas The heating networks of Kaunas were handed over to Gazprom and their related intermediaries in Lithuania.

Such a choice of Vilnius, according to A Zuokas, was impossible without the approval of the Lithuanian Government and Social Democratic Prime Minister A.

Brazauskas, by the way, the same party whose candidate for self-government is Mr T.

Vinokur Sixth, because of such a Western direction, A.

Zuokas became the epicenter of enormous pressure, because for the first time an energy company from the Western world invaded the traditionally sphere of influence of "Gazprom" and its representatives in Lithuania I will also remind you that even the decision of the State Price and Energy Control Commission, adopted after various complaints from certain authors, was annulled by the Supreme Court of Lithuania, regarding the allegedly unjustified 24.

3 Million Received By Veolia Euro Surplus

Regarding litigation in arbitration, I must mention, that first of all, we need to wait for their decisions, and not to comment based on the speculations of interested parties Moreover, we will soon see if the financing of the arbitration case itself will not turn into an even bigger scandal.

After the Anti-Corruption Commission of the Council of the Vilnius City Municipality, of which R Šimašius was already the mayor, conducted a detailed and unprecedented investigation into the financing of the arbitration case of the Vilnius Municipality against Veolia, it was determined that a success fee of up to 20 million could be paid to the risk fund financing the arbitration case depending on the duration of the litigation or the amount of the granted loan (under certain conditions).

Meanwhile, the Council's decision provided for the possibility of paying only success fees and only from a clear result, ie proportionately the amount of money won and recovered Seventh, the contract with Veolia of France ended in 2017.

and unfortunately heat prices increased or decreased as much as the main part of the costs changed - that is, the fuel used - gas In the past, certain politicians blamed Veolia or Zuoka, now Putin's gas, for their inaction, although they could have done everything to increase the use of biofuels, which they have done since 2006.

A Zuokas, who worked as mayor at that time, consistently sought to implement.

Eighth, A Zuokas has never received any bribe from Veolia, including 724 thousand euros, which R.

Šimašius said publicly during the 2019 municipal elections Due to such an unfounded accusation of R.

Šimašiaus, the prosecutor's office, following A Zuoka's complaint, applied to the city's Ethics Commission with a request to evaluate R.

Šimašiaus' behavior The Ethics Commission indicated that the politician R.

Šimašius, while holding the position of Mayor of the Municipality, used his position to increase his popularity and that of his political opponent A For defaming Zuoko, doing so deliberately and intentionally.

The Ethics Commission found that R Šimašius violated the Code of Conduct for State Politicians.

A Zuokas was never suspected of taking a bribe from Veolia, and such accusations were recognized by the city's Ethics Commission as going beyond even the elementary ethics of a politician.

The unfoundedness of the accusations was also confirmed by A Zuoka's public prosecutor's response.

We will only remind you that during the lease of the heating plant, the consultants of the Vilnius Municipality were World Bank experts, who also considered this project as an example to follow and invited Vilnius employees to many other EU cities to share their experience And this is an expert assessment, not the speeches of politicians.

Ninth, Vilnius is becoming an increasingly difficult European city to reach The accessibility of the city directly correlates with investments, not only in the capital, but also throughout Lithuania.

During A Zuok's leadership, the capital became one of the few European capitals that had an efficient airline, the maintenance of which could cost less than what the entire country is currently paying to other carriers.

In the past 8 years alone (when the base air carrier Air Lituanica was grounded and closed exclusively due to the political decision of Mayor Remigius Šimašius), the Lithuanian Government has allocated millions of taxpayers' funds to increase accessibility, of which over 3 million will be allocated to the London flight direction alone euros.

The Investor Forum and Entrepreneurial Lithuania constantly emphasize how much investment Lithuania and Vilnius are losing due to poor communication, which means thousands of well-paid jobs VšĮ "Investuok Lithuania" in 2014.

The conclusion of the assessment of economic and social benefits of Air Lituanica clearly proves the benefit of the base air carrier for the budget of the capital and the state, which is significantly higher than the planned investments, quote: "The analysis of social and economic benefits shows that state investments in the Company's activities pay off even in such a state GDV of the investment project would be equal to 731 million LTL (211 million euros).

The benefit-cost ratio is over 23 Even in the case of a pessimistic scenario, the benefits generated are twice the investment required.

” The fact that the company was sustainable and its closure was also a foolish ambition of R Šimašius was confirmed by the law enforcement authorities.

The decision of the Vilnius City Municipality to terminate the activities of UAB "Air Lituanica" was made due to a change in the will of the newly elected Vilnius City Council to no longer implement the decision, i e.

to no longer finance Air Lituanica UAB The prosecutor's office also stated in the ruling that supporting air lituanica was in the public interest.

Unfortunately, you will not find any information about this investigation terminated by the prosecutor's office and its results either on the website of the Vilnius municipality www vilnius.

lt or on Remigijaus Šimašiaus's Facebook page, as well as the fact that Vilnius became a real pearl in Europe during Zuok's rule Tenth, Tuo A.

Zuokas differs from many political opponents First of all, competence, courage and principles.

The implemented works that I spoke about and the leadership that was undoubtedly shown are the best proof of this for the people of Vilnius you won't find information about this investigation terminated by the prosecutor's office and its results either on the website of the Vilnius municipality www.

vilnius lt or on Remigijaus Šimašiaus's Facebook page, as well as the fact that Vilnius became a real pearl in Europe during Zuok's rule.

Tenth, Tuo A Zuokas differs from many political opponents.

First of all, competence, courage and principles The implemented works that I spoke about and the leadership that was undoubtedly shown are the best proof of this for the people of Vilnius.

you won't find information about this investigation terminated by the prosecutor's office and its results either on the website of the Vilnius municipality www vilnius.

lt or on Remigijaus Šimašiaus's Facebook page, as well as the fact that Vilnius became a real pearl in Europe during Zuok's rule Tenth, Tuo A.

Zuokas differs from many political opponents First of all, competence, courage and principles.

The implemented works that I spoke about and the leadership that was undoubtedly shown are the best proof of this for the people of Vilnius .