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Siauliai airport's ex-CEO suspected of attempt to bribe Lithuanian Air Force officer

BC, Vilnius, 16.11.2018.Print version
Law-enforcement bodies suspect Romas Miksys, Siauliai Airport's former longtime director who is in private business now, of attempting to bribe a Lithuanian Air Force officer, according to information available to LETA/BNS.

Based on unofficial information, Miksys is suspected of acting in the interests of Latvia's aviation company Wings 4 Sky Group.    

According to information available to the Latvian news agency LETA, Wings 4 Sky Group came under the radar of Latvia's security services back in 2015. However, the Lithuanian military in 2016 signed a jet trainer lease contract with the company. 

The Lithuanian Special Investigation Service, or STT, said on Thursday that, based on military intelligence information, it was carrying out a pre-trial investigation into an alleged attempt by the head of a privately-owned company to give a bribe of 90,000 euros to a Lithuanian Air Force officer for the benefit of a Latvian company.     

According to STT, the bribe was offered to obtain exceptional conditions for that company to bid for and win a public procurement contract. The anti-corruption agency did not name the people and companies involved in the probe. It gave no details as to the contract either. 

Formal suspicions of bribery have been brought against Miksys. The man was detained on Wednesday and searches were carried out at his home and office.  

The suspect was released on Thursday, STT spokeswoman Ramune Paukstiene told. 

"Our officials did not seek his arrest, because we think that he will not flee or forge documents. There are not grounds to ask for his further arrest," she said.

According to the spokeswoman, the suspect had no official relations of representation with the Latvian company. 

Miksys served as the CEO of Siauliai Airport from 2006 up to his dismissal in July 2015. Officials at the Siauliai local authority, the airport's owner, then said the CEO had been fired because of the airport's poor performance results. 

Miksys owns Ragda, a construction and trade company that is headed by his wife, Daiva Miksiene. The businessman also holds the post of director at Aviatechnika, a firm owned by Ragda

Based on information from the Center of Registers, the man also serves as director of Aldrija, another company, and heads the Siauliai-based Business Information and Development Association.  

Miksys ran for parliament in the 1996 general elections on the Lithuanian Economy Party's ticket.  

The businessman could not be reached for comment. Miksys' wife declined to comment by phone on the circumstances surrounding her husband's detention. 



Latvian company faced with reputational challenges

According to unofficial information, the Latvian Corruption Prevention and Combating Bureau, in cooperation with Lithuanian law-enforcement officials, have conducted searches at Wings 4 Sky. 

Wings 4 Sky's top executives could not be reached by LETA for comment, but the company's receptionist who answered the phone said law-enforcement officials had not visited the company in recent days.

Wings 4 Sky says on its website that it sells aircraft and helicopters, provides jet aircraft maintenance and training services, and is engaged in the import and export of aviation spare parts and provides repair services.

The Lithuanian Air Force leases three L-39 Albatros jet trainers from the Latvian company, which then operated under the name of K.S. Avia.

The three-year contract, worth almost 3.4 mln euros, was signed in March 2016.

Estonia's Mada Air, one of the bidders for the trainer lease contract, contested the results of the public procurement procedure, but courts dismissed its claims.   

Mada Air said the winning and runner-up bids should have been rejected because K.S. Avia and Sky Fuel were related through shareholders and management bodies and their offices were registered at the same address.  

"SIA Sky Fuel does not have a fleet of its own and leases aircraft from SIA K.S. Avia, and is thus fully dependent on it and is liable to the contracting authority for improper fulfillment of the latter's obligations", the Estonian company said in its claim filed with a court in 2016.

Based on information from the Latvian business portal Firmas.lv, K.S. Avia was registered in 1994 and renamed Wings 4 Sky two years ago. 

Sergei Shchukin holds a 48.7% stake in the company. Konstantin Solodukha and Artyom Solodukha each own 25% of shares, and Irina Shchukina holds 1.25%. 

Shchukin is the chairman of the company's management board and Konstantin Solodukha is a member of the board. 

The Wings 4 Sky Group holds 75% of shares in Sky Port, the operator of Jurmala-Tukums Airport.  

According to information available to LETA, the Latvian Civil Defense Agency back in 2015 canceled the Tukums airport's aerodrome certificate, saying it had received information from two Latvian security bodies that the then owner of the airport, K.S. Avia, did not meet the requirements of the aviation law or posed security threats.

Under Latvian law, an airport operator must not pose a threat to Latvian security and society and to the country's democratic system, independence and territorial integrity. 

The certificate remains cancelled.






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