To:
His Excellency President of the European Union Herman van Rompuy
President of the European Commission Jose Manuel Barroso
Her Excellency President of the Republic of Lithuania Dalia Grybauskaite
Director General of the European Commission’s Directorate for Maritime Affairs and Fisheries Lowri Evans
European Court of Human Rights
Members of the European Parliament
Parliamentary Speaker of the Republic of Lithuania Irena Degutiene
Prime Minister of the Republic of Lithuania Andrius Kubilius
Minister of Justice of the Republic of Lithuania Remigijus Simasius
Minister of Agriculture of the Republic of Lithuania Kazys Starkevicius
Minister of Environment of the Republic of Lithuania Gediminas Kazlauskas
Minister of Internal Affairs of the Republic of Lithuania
President of the World Lithuanian Community Regina Narusiene
Chairman of the Committee on Rural Affairs of the Seimas of the Republic of Lithuania Edmundas Pupinis
Chairman of the Committee on Environment Protection of the Seimas of the Republic of Lithuania Jonas Simenas
Chairman of the Committee on Audit of the Seimas of the Republic of Lithuania Loreta Grauziniene
Chairman of the Commission for Maritime and Fishery Affairs of the Seimas of the Republic of Lithuania Andrius Endzinas
Chairman of the Commission for Anti-Corruption of the Seimas of the Republic of Lithuania Ligitas Kernagis
Chairman of the Commission for Economy Dainius Budrys
State Ombudsman of the Republic of Lithuania Giedre Svediene
Director of the Special Investigation Service of the Republic of Lithuania Zimantas Pacevicius
Director of the Financial Crimes Investigation Service
Commissioner General of the Police Saulius Skvernelis
Ombudsman of the Seimas of the Republic of Lithuania Romas Valentukevicius
Chairman of the Board of Lietuvos Sajudis Rytas Kupcinskas
Members of the presidium of the Homeland Union – Lithuanian Christian Democrats
Members of the Seimas of the Republic of Lithuania
The media
Justice Restored within 993 Days
On 15 of June, 2009, a representative of Union of Associations Zuvininku Rumai (hereinafter – Zuvininku Rumai) was removed from the Monitoring Committee of the Implementation of 2007-2013 Action Programme of the Lithuanian Fisheries Sector by relevant decree of Minister of Agriculture Kazys Starkevicius. The Action Programme was approved by the European Commission’s decision C/2007 6703 of 17 of December, 2007.
Organisations represented by Zuvininku Rumai appealed to Starkevicius on 18 of June, 2009 over unlawful removal of Zuvininku Rumai’s representative from the Monitoring Committee. Nevertheless, the minister of agriculture did not revise his decision.
The unlawful actions of highest-ranking officials of the Ministry of Agriculture have been repeatedly reported to top institutions of the European Union and Lithuania. The issue was not addressed in a proper manner.
On 22 of December, 2011, a letter titled “Let’s Respect People” was sent to the highest-ranking institutions of the European Union and Lithuania. The letter was translated into english and e-mailed to leaders of relevant EU institutions, namely, His Excellency President of the European Union Herman van Rompuy, President of the European Commission Jose Manuel Barroso and Director General of the European Commission’s Directorate for Maritime Affairs and Fisheries Lowri Evans on 10 of January, 2012.
On 27 of January, 2012, a recommendation was received from the EU president to apply to the Ombudsman’s Office of the parliament of the Republic of Lithuania.
In accordance to the recommendations of the EU president, the parliamentary Ombudsman’s Office examined the situation and proposed that the minister of agriculture included the representative of Zuvininku Rumai in the Monitoring Committee, strictly abide by requirements of legal acts and cease violation of civil rights.
By decree No. 3D-136 of 2 of March, 2012, Minister Starkevicius included president of Zuvininku Rumai, Leonas Kerosierius, in the Monitoring Committee.
I am grateful to the president of the European Union for his fast response, recommendations and support, as well the staff of the parliamentary Ombudsman’s Office for establishing the offences committed by Lithuanian institutions and their unwillingness to address the problems.
After receipt of the response from the president of the European Union, it took 993 days to correct the offences committed by Starkevicius. I think the parliamentary Ombudsman’s Office could be in disgrace.
The impression is that, after receiving the letter “Let’s Respect Lithuania”, many did not respond and decided it WAS NONE OF THEIR BUSINESS. What about the possibility of high-handedness of politicians, business tycoons and bureaucrats? Maybe that is the reason Lithuania has been transformed into grounds of protest actions? Agents of special services are no longer capable of unlawful actions of criminals and interest groups. Please be reminded that agents established unlawful deeds of Agriculture Vice-Minister Ausrys Macijauskas and brought two counts of criminal charges against him. The tense and thorough investigations by agents led to court proceedings in the so-called bait case and filed charges for attempted appropriation of LTL 22.5 mln in EU money. Starkevicius is so far a witness in the case, however, his status might change.
On 22 of May, 2009, I wrote a letter titled “On Problems in Fisheries” to many of you and asked that Vice-Minister Macijauskas be removed from office. The actions that were not taken by Lithuania’s top-ranking institutions were commenced by officers of special services two years later – Macijauskas has been on trial since 8 of December, 2011.
Please be reminded that laws in effect in Lithuania stipulates that an organisation is to reply to written addresses within a month. The example indicates that members of concerned groups are often set up to take care of economic, business and political interests, so nobody ever initiates investigation and correction of unlawful actions of institutions and officers, protection of victims, compensation of damages and proceedings against those guilty.
The evil deeds of Minister Starkevicius and his circle hardly ever make it to the media, as Starkevicius made LTL 10 mln worth of advertisement contracts with many media sources by way of unannounced negotiations. The money had been received from the EU.
I am again asking you to interrupt privatisation of Zeimena full-system hatchery, which features 70 ponds of various functions that measure 400 ha in area and that contained about 3.6 million cubic metres of water. In order to privatise, the ponds that had initially cost LTL 40.8 mln (EUR 11.8 mln) were estimated at LTL 2.3 mln (EUR 0.7 mln). I wrote to you about this in my latest letter titled New Business Scheme of Kazys Starkevicius Gains Momentum on 1 of March, 2012. In my opinion, the water bodies should be given back to the Fisheries Service with an obligation to work out a plan for using the ponds for fisheries purposes. In a letter titled On Implementation of the Reforms of the 2002 Johannesburg Declaration and General Fisheries Policies that was sent to many of you on 19 of March, 2012, I drew your attention to the calculations of ichthyologists, which suggest that overall needs for young fish for stocking of the most significant water bodies with fish is up to 720 million young fish of various types. However, merely 160-180 million fish were launched in state water bodies per year due to limited fisheries capacities and funding. Water bodies in Lithuania have been wasted. With the current fisheries policies and the damaging operations of the Ministry of Agriculture, it is my opinion that Lithuania will never meet the requirements of the 2002 Johannesburg Declaration and fulfil the tasks of the reforms of the Common Fisheries Policies.
I sometimes receive letters from relevant EU officers and politicians, saying they cannot interfere with internal matters of entities in Lithuania. Sometimes an advise would be highly appreciated. Therefore, I am drawing EVERYONE’S ATTENTION to the fact that Lithuania, which consists of a number of organisations, is a member of the European Union and contributes to strengthening of economic capacities of the EU. I am glad that the president of the European Union took time to get involved and help.
An English version of the letter will be sent to members of the European Parliament and EU institutions.
Respectfully Yours,
Leonas Kerosierius
Telephone: + 370 5 231 81 11
E-mail: leonaske@takas.lt
26 of March, 2012