Freedom Party MP Tomas Vytautas Raskevičius, who served as a member of the Vilnius City Council, announced the decision to return the funds to the municipality that covered his trips outside of work. This is how the member of the Seimas reacted to the information published by Delfi on Thursday that the politician who worked in the capital's municipality used office funds to go home at night or in the morning from Švitrigailos St. 7 located in the gay club "Soho".
"Representatives of the media, after checking the expenses declared by my member of the Vilnius City Council in 2019-2020, submitted logical questions regarding the compensation of transportation services during non-working hours. All the expenses I declared were directly related to the activities of the Councilor and I do not think that I did anything inappropriate or dishonest. On the other hand, after so much time has passed, it is very difficult to provide direct evidence of my assessment, and tracking where I was driving during those hours would take a disproportionate amount of time," TV Raskevičius wrote on Facebook on Thursday.
"Since I carefully collected all the declared checks, after checking them, I see that in the period from 2019 from April to November 2020, I declared 226 euros 20 cents to compensate for out-of-hours transportation services. In order to dispel any possible doubts about transparency and to encourage other Councilors past and present who are still treading water, I have returned the said amount to Vilnius city municipalities bill," the politician wrote.
On Thursday, Delfi wrote that in 2019, as a member of the capital city council, TV Raskevičius not only paid for communication services, bought fuel, insured a car, but also used taxi and ride services several times a day.
As the portal wrote, the politician used office funds to go home at night or in the morning from Švitrigailos Street. 7 located in the gay club "Soho".
When asked about the trips home, which also took place at half past five in the morning, the representative of the "Laisvė" party said that if questions arise in the public space about "some" bills, he will return that money to the municipal budget.
The Delfi publication announces that another "freeman" who worked in the capital's municipality, Vytautas Mitalas, the former vice-mayor of the city of Vilnius, also paid for night trips with clerical funds.
