Lithuania’s Prosecutor General’s Office opened a pre-trial investigation today after more than 600,000 registry records may have been copied in an illegal breach of state information systems. The suspected targets were the Real Estate Register and the Register of Legal Entities, the initial damage estimate is at least €111,000, and some access attempts came from abroad and through other institutions’ systems. Access has been restricted, accounts blocked, and Prime Minister Inga Ruginienė has called for Registrų centras chief Adrijus Jusas to resign.
In the Šalčininkai contraband probe, the number of detained police and border officers has risen to 13, while the case now spans 49 suspects and €4.2mn in seized assets. Over the past day, investigators said 27 people have been detained in total, with nearly half of them officers linked to cigarette smuggling by balloon. Ruginienė said the suspects abused their positions and passed on inside information, and the government will review internal controls at the Interior Ministry.
Police today recorded violence against a minor in Panevėžys district and a separate abuse case involving a juvenile in Radviliškis. In central Kaunas, a 90 sq. metre older property was converted into three rental flats, roughly doubling its value. The Lithuanian Association of the Blind and Visually Impaired said yesterday that intercity bus travel remains difficult for disabled passengers because journeys still have to be booked in advance. Cultural coverage also kept focus on the 1993 Vilijampolė restaurant shooting in Kaunas, in which five members of the Daktarai gang, including Henrikas Daktaras, were killed.
The European Central Bank approved SEB’s plan to merge its Baltic banks. In Lithuania, prosecutors opened a pre-trial investigation into the alleged use of leaked Real Estate Register data after a breach involving more than 600,000 records.