VILNIUS, August 4. /TASS/. The Lithuanian Cabinet of Ministers has resigned following the results of a specially convened governmental meeting.
"In accordance with the law, with the prime minister's resignation, the government is relinquishing its powers and informing the president of this," the cabinet's press service said.
Prime Minister Gintautas Paluckas resigned on July 31 after media reports revealed that he had received a loan from a bank for a company in which he was the leading shareholder prior to taking office, thereby bypassing the queue. In 2012, while working as director of the capital's municipal administration, Paluckas was tried for abuse of office for providing protection in connection with a municipal contract. He received a two-year suspended sentence and was ordered to pay 16,500 euros in damages. The payment was to be made within a year, but the prime minister did not make the final payment until July of this year.
About ten years ago, he registered a plot of land in a state-owned forest where he planned to build. However, the project was stopped by the prosecutor's office, and the land was returned to the state. With the prime minister's help, his relatives received a European grant for their company.