Construction, Lithuania, Railways, Transport

Lietuvos Gelezinkeliai (Lithuanian Railways) will name the winning bidder only after the Commission for Coordination of Protection of Objects of Importance to Ensuring National Security gives its opinion on the deal.

Tomas Berzinskas, spokesman for the prime minister of Lithuania, said the commission is still analyzing the documents submitted and has also asked for additional information from the Transport and Communications Ministry and Lietuvos Gelezinkeliai.

"I can confirm that the company Skinest Group was first on the line-up of bidders," Mantas Dubauskas, spokesman for the state railway company, told.

The commission and the Lithuanian government said in connection with a rail sleeper tender last year that Skinest Rail's owner Oleg Ossinovski had links with foreign government bodies or natural or legal persons which would increase the risk or pose a risk to the national security of Lithuania.

Following the decision of the government, the Lithuanian railway company decided not to conclude a contract with Skinest Baltija and started a new tender, as a result of which the sleepers were bought from the company Swetrak, the runner-up in the original tender.

In Latvia, Skinest is accused of giving a bribe of 500,000 euros in return for a subsidiary of the state-owned railway company Latvijas Dzelzcels buying second-hand locomotives from Skinest.

In late 2017, the European Commission imposed a fine of almost 28 million euros on Lietuvos Gelezinkeliai for hindering competition in the rail freight market by dismantling the Renge track back in 2008. The Lithuanian railway company has said it intends to have the track restored by the end of 2019.