Lithuanian parliament lifts ex-premier Gintautas Paluckas’s immunity in unexplained wealth case
15:21, 08 мая 2026 г.
Former Lithuanian Premier Gintautas Paluckas has been stripped of parliamentary immunity to face criminal charges that he holds unexplained wealth. He resigned as premier last year after investigations by OCCRP member center Siena and broadcaster Laisvės TV triggered criminal and ethics probes and sparked street protests.
Lithuanian lawmakers voted to lift the parliamentary immunity of former Prime Minister Gintautas Paluckas this week, clearing the way for law enforcement to indict him for allegedly holding wealth of questionable origin.
Ninety-three out of 141 seats on Thursday voted in favor of the action, which was requested by Lithuanian Prosecutor General Nida Grunskienė. Two days earlier, she told parliament that Paluckas was being investigated for 344,000 euros in unexplained wealth, which he allegedly gathered between December 2010 and December 2024. Paluckas’ wife has already been criminally charged in the case, she said.
Paluckas denies he has committed any crimes. Prior to the vote, he said he had no intention of using the immunity granted to him as a member of Lithuania’s parliament, known as the Seimas, to dodge a prosecution.
“It takes two for this tango, and therefore, I will be needing no help from the Seimas,” he told parliament.
The criminal probe was launched in 2025 following a series of investigations by OCCRP member center Siena and broadcaster Laisvės TV, which fueled calls for Paluckas’s resignation, and sparked street protests in Vilnius.
The stories focused on Paluckas’ connections to a local businessman with vast real estate holdings and the questionable ways he had accumulated wealth, including the possession of an apartment willingly sold to him by a Cypriot company at a 90,000-euro loss.
In her address to Lithuania’s parliament, the prosecutor general mentioned suspicious real estate transactions. However she refused to confirm whether they were the deals exposed by Siena and Laisvės TV, claiming it was sensitive information from an ongoing case.
Paluckas was appointed Prime Minister of Lithuania in 2024, which his Social Democratic party won in a landslide. He resigned in the wake of five investigative stories by Siena and Laisvės TV, a law enforcement raid on a company owned by his sister-in-law, and the arrest of his brother in a separate criminal case.
The case against his brother, conducted by Lithuania’s Financial Crime Investigation Service (FNTT), is still ongoing. Paluckas has been questioned as a witness in that case, which alleges credit fraud, embezzlement of EU funds, and corruption, the FNTT told Siena in a written statement.
In recent weeks, Lithuanian President Gitanas Nausėda, members of his Social Democratic party, and some of its coalition partners have publicly urged Paluckas to resign from parliament. Paluckas, however, said he will remain both an MP and a member of the Social Democrats.
“As long as I have passion, I will be in politics. When it is gone, then I will go do other things,” he told journalists after the prosecutor general addressed parliament.