In Lithuania last week, a court found Algirdas Komskis — the son of Kestas Komskis, the former Vice Speaker of the Seimas of the Republic of Lithuania — guilty of embezzlement, fraud and willful bankruptcy. This is reported by Siena, the Lithuanian partner of OCCRP. The politician’s son will have to pay more than 170 thousand euros in taxes, fines and compensation. The basis for the start of the proceedings was the investigation of Siena and partners.
Last week, the court ruled that in 2019, Algirdas Komskis deliberately ruined the Agrolira company, which he led with his father. The son of a politician did not want to pay compensation to the family of a man who died in an accident in 2017 due to the fault of an Agrolira driver who was driving a company car while intoxicated.
In February 2019, a Lithuanian court found the driver and Agrolira guilty and ordered the company to pay about one hundred thousand euros in compensation to the family of the deceased, who left two children, but the victims never received most of the amount.
The Siena investigation revealed that the Komskis’ enterprise, which was one of the largest employers in the western Lithuanian city of Pagegiai, collapsed in a matter of months. The day before the first bankruptcy filing, the company registered three new shareholders. All of them were from Pagegäi and worked for Agrolira or other enterprises of Komskis.
Siena journalists spoke to three prospective investors. One of them said that he did not buy shares at all: allegedly, Kestas Komskis gave him some documents to sign, but did not say that he would receive a part of the company in this way. At the same time, the politician promised that when the enterprise goes bankrupt, the man will receive a tractor, which in this case will be written off. According to the court order, the tractor was never returned to him.
Another “investor” said he thought he was signing an employment contract, not documents to buy shares in a bankrupt company. The third said that he really bought shares in Agrolira, but he does not remember the details of the transaction, since “his memory is bad.”
At the same time, Kęstas Komskis founded the company Kalibrus, which, like Agrolira, specialized in construction work. The new firm soon became the largest building contractor in the Pageg municipality. At the same time, Komskis was then a member of the city council of the administrative center, and his brother led the administration. Unlike Agrolira, the new company had no obligations to the family of the deceased.
After the release of the Siena investigation, Lithuanian law enforcement officers began proceedings against Kyastas and Algirdas, but only the case of Komskis Jr. reached the court, and the charges against the politician himself were dropped due to lack of evidence.
The court found Algirdas Komskis guilty on all counts. The politician’s son received seven months in prison with a trial period of 18 months and a fine of ten thousand euros. He was also ordered to pay compensation to the family of the deceased man (56 thousand euros) and taxes that Agrolira owed to the state (110 thousand euros). All assets of Algirdas will be frozen until he pays the full amount.
Algirdas and Kestas Komskis did not respond to Siena’s requests for comment. It is not known whether the politician’s son intends to appeal the verdict.
Kestas Komskis, who previously held the position of Vice Speaker of the Seimas of the Republic of Lithuania, is nominated for the post of mayor of Pagegiai in the next year’s elections.
