Absolutely right. Nothing new so far!
VV
I guess that’s the truth!
VV
11/18/2003 07:00:00 PM EST – AGENCE FRANCE PRESSE
New allegations rain on embattled Lithuanian president
New allegations surfaced in a corruption scandal engulfing Lithuanian President Rolandas Paksas as the leader paid a flying visit to his Baltic country’s troops in Iraq.
A parliamentary committee of inquiry set up to investigate allegations of links between the presidential office and the mafia was on Wednesday publicly probing suggestions that Paksas spent more money in his election campaign than he declared.
The allegations against Paksas – whose main financial backer Jurijus Borisovas is under investigation by the judicial authorities on blackmail charges – are the most direct link with the president yet in the scandal which blew up at the end of October.
An independent expert told the parliamentary commission the report he had made did not match reality.
"The reports by both candidates show that Rolandas Paksas and incumbent Valdas Adamkus spent almost equal amounts of money for the campaign. However, the amount of advertising differed very much," Jaunius Jakaitis, the head of advertising monitoring company Media House told the committee.
"Paksas’ advertising on TV channels and radio stations, when counted by seconds, were double that of Adamkus, while adverts in the press were triple," he added.
If established that the spending was actually higher, the matter could be handed over to law enforcement agencies.
Chief of the election commission Zenonas Vaigauskas told the Commission that Paksas’ rival Adamkus had also violated the law as he had one million litas’ (290,000 euros, 350,000 dollars) debt after the elections and could not tell whether the debt has been repaid.
On Wednesday new leaks emerged in the press saying that the committee had obtained proof that Paksas’ ex-adviser Remigijus Acas and Borisovas had been involved in a crisis last year at Swedish SEB owned Vilniaus Bankas.
Accusations in a security services’ report at the end of October that Paksas’ office had links with organized crime have thrown the Baltic country into crisis, just six months before it is due to join the European Union and NATO.
Foreign Minister Antanas Valionis told the committee on Wednesday that Paksas had brushed off concerns from foreign parties about Acas.
"I told the president about the problem of Acas and it was related to Acas’ work with classified information and the possibility for him to take part in NATO planning processes," he told the session.
He also said that doubts about Acas came from foreign diplomats, including ones from NATO countries.
The special parliamentary committee is expected to publish a report by December 1 that could pave the way for parliament to impeach Paksas.
Despite the deepening scandal surrounding his administration, Paksas travelled to Iraq on Wednesday to visit the 100 Lithuanian troops serving in the US-led occupation force there.
A source at the Lithuanian presidential office said that on his way back he was due to stop off in Warsaw to visit Polish President Aleksander Kwasniewski.
The Polish presidential office would not confirm the report.
Lithuania has 100 troops in Iraq, including 50 under Danish command near Basra and 50 in a Polish-led force near Karbala.
Copyright © 2003 Agence France Presse.
anything new in our circus? 
What’s new in your circus? In our circus ‘alles in ordnung’. 
Thousands Rally Against Lithuania Leader
Thousands in Lithuania Rally to Demand President’s Resignation, Alleging Ties to Organized Crime
http://abcnews.go.com/wire/World/ap20031122_1336.html
The Associated Press
VILNIUS, Lithuania Nov. 22 — Thousands of protesters rallied near President Rolandas Paksas’ office in Vilnius on Saturday, demanding his resignation amid allegations that he has ties with a businessman involved with organized crime.
Police surrounded Daukantas Square before the rally and searched protesters. Police kept the crowd separated from about 400 Paksas supporters, who rallied on the opposite side of the square. No clashes or arrests were reported, and the crowds dispersed peacefully in the evening. About 4,000 protesters turned out for the rally, police said.
"I am here because I think Lithuania must clean up its backyard before it enters the EU and NATO next year," said Antanas Jonkus, a 24-year old student. "It’s time to go for Paksas."
A parliamentary commission was established to investigate alleged presidential ties with organized crime. It is expected to submit a report to lawmakers next month.
The commission asked Paksas to testify last week, but he refused to appear. He had testified before prosecutors last week.
A criminal investigation was launched against businessman Yuri Borisov, who donated $400,000 to Paksas’ campaign last year, amid suspicion he may have tried to blackmail the 47-year-old president for political favors.
Borisov, who has Lithuanian and Russian citizenship, has had both his passports confiscated by police and cannot leave. He has denied the allegations.
The affair has jolted the ex-Soviet Baltic republic of 3.5 million residents that joins the European Union and NATO next year.
Lithuania security chief decries Paksas leaks
By Bryan Bradley, Reuters
VILNIUS, Nov. 24 — President Rolandas Paksas suffered a blow in his fight for political survival on Monday when the top security chief complained of leaks from the Lithuanian leader’s inner circle to Russian mob suspects.
Paksas was plunged into political crisis last month when security services said in a report that his office and some aides were linked to the Russian mafia, causing a storm as the Baltic country prepares to enter the EU and NATO next year.
In office since January, Paksas has denied any personal involvement in the scandal. His term as leader of 3.5 million citizens has been marred by a string of clashes, gaffes and a bizarre media storm over his faith in a mystic.
Mecys Laurinkus, head of the State Security Department, told an open parliament hearing on Monday that sensitive information given only to Paksas and his inner circle had been leaked to people under investigation, and warnings had been repeatedly ignored.
He spoke in particular of a meeting he had with Paksas and a few advisers about a contraband investigation, where a list of the people involved had been shown only to Paksas.
"It raises concern when information shown to such a small group leaks out," he said.
When asked by the special nine-member parliamentary commission to clarify whether he was saying the president personally was to blame, Laurinkus declined to answer.
Paksas, who won the presidency on broad promises to boost living standards for all, denies all wrongdoing and has repeatedly refused to step down.
Laurinkus said he had warned Paksas early in the year about the Russian businessman Yuri Borisov – Paksas’s main financial supporter, who is named in the security report – but Paksas had ignored the warnings and had given Borisov citizenship by special decree instead.
Borisov had also suddenly stopped discussing illegal activities over the telephone after Paksas had been briefed on results from tappings by security services, Laurinkus said.
"The president’s moral authority has certainly plummeted, and it’s hard to say what part of society still supports him," Deputy Speaker Vytenis Andriukaitis told Reuters.
"And one does not get the impression that he is sorry for his mistakes and wants to correct them," he added.
Paksas vowed on Monday he would not quit despite weeks of turmoil and a weekend rally when several thousand gathered outside the presidential palace to demand that he quit.
"I am not considering stepping down," he told the newspaper Respublika. "I feel tremendous support from the Lithuanian people, and I value that as the best stimulus to continue."
In a poll released on Monday, 86 percent said Paksas had hurt or seriously hurt the country’s image.
Prime Minister Algirdas Brazauskas – seen to hold the key to Paksas’s future – says he will await the conclusions of the parliamentary investigation, expected to report at the end of this week.
http://famulus.msnbc.com/FamulusIntl/reuters11-24-024952.asp?reg=EUROP
E
I see that media abroad is well informed
Imagine if news traveled like this 100 years ago.
11/24/2003 07:00:00 PM EST – BBC MONITORING INTERNATIONAL REPORTS
Lithuanian leader sees meeting with Bush as key to domestic crisis
Lithuanian President Rolandas Paksas’s planned visit to the United States in early December will show whether he will be capable of surviving the crisis that surrounds him at home, a leading Lithuanian daily has written. If US President George W Bush decides to meet Paksas despite the alleged shady ties of his entourage, that will be a signal to Paksas that he is an acceptable partner in foreign policy and can stay in the post.
or vice-versa… if news now would travel like 100 yrs ago 
Means of communication were developed but main problem always is man.
And I heard that Mr. President is going to visit DarPo1
the situation is ******* i think…paksas is lol…
[quote]Telenor rašė:
And I heard that Mr. President is going to visit DarPo1
[/quote]
Well, he’s not visiting me, but the city south of me… Yes, he’s planning on going to Chicago. 
`Lithuanian Watergate’ ensnares new leader
Paksas faces impeachment calls over alleged mob ties
By Alex Rodriguez
Tribune foreign correspondent
November 27, 2003
VILNIUS, Lithuania – Lithuanians started feeling queasy about their new president, Rolandas Paksas, the week after his Feb. 26 inauguration, when they learned his entourage included a Georgian psychic. "Lena" sat next to the president and his wife at the inauguration, claimed to have healed Paksas of a serious disease, and according to the local media, helped the president pick his top aides.
Now many Lithuanians say they’ve had enough. In recent weeks, allegations from Lithuania’s security service have raised questions about the influence of Russian organized crime on Paksas’ top advisers and have even spawned calls for Paksas’ impeachment.
Many of the allegations center on a Russian businessman who, in taped conversations, said Paksas reneged on his promise to make him a military general and give him a presidential adviser’s job in exchange for $400,000 that the businessman gave to Paksas’ presidential campaign.
That businessman, Yuri Borisov, is suspected of illegally selling military helicopter parts to the government of Sudan, designated as having ties with international terrorism.
Known as the "Lithuanian Watergate" in Vilnius cafes and bars and in newspaper headlines, the scandal has forced the resignations of six Paksas advisers. A special parliamentary commission is investigating the charges and is expected to release its findings Monday.
Analysts say the scandal has scarred Lithuania’s reputation at the worst possible time, just as it gears up for membership in NATO and the European Union next year. Membership itself isn’t jeopardized by the scandal, but the affair could turn away investors who had been spying the Baltic republic’s potential as an emerging market.
Scandal raises fears
Worse, some Lithuanian politicians say the scandal has raised fears that the Russian mob is entrenching itself in Lithuania’s economy and sees the country’s upcoming EU membership as a convenient springboard for broadening its illegal activities in Europe.
"We know that Russian businesses are increasingly interested in Lithuania because it’s going into the EU, and we know that some of those businesses are involved in criminal activity in Lithuania right now," said Andrius Kubilius, a Parliament member who also sits on a special legislative commission investigating the scandal.
A former stunt pilot during Soviet days, Paksas stunned political analysts in January by handily defeating Valdas Adamkus, the popular incumbent and former Chicagoan who was a favorite to win re-election.
Paksas appealed to the thousands of voters in Lithuania’s rural areas who felt left behind by the country’s switch from Soviet-style management to free-market democracy.
Since then, his fall has been hard and swift. In October, a Lithuanian security service report accused Paksas’ national security adviser, Remigijus Acas, of having links to Russian organized crime. How Acas became the national security adviser has bewildered most Lithuanians, including Acas.
Appearing before the special parliamentary commission Nov. 20, Acas said Paksas wanted to reward Acas’ work on the presidential campaign by offering him a job as national security adviser. Acas was shocked. "I told him I didn’t have the appropriate education for this, and that maybe I should go back to school," Acas told the commission. "The president said he had a very good team, and if I had any missing information, they’d help me."
According to the security report, Acas became the president’s liaison with businessman Borisov.
Lithuanian security officials allege that Borisov, in addition to the alleged military helicopter sales to Sudan, conducted talks with Saddam Hussein’s regime before the Iraqi leader’s ouster. But the report is vague about the nature of the talks. Lithuanian security officials refused last week to comment on the report.
`He did not do anything’
In mid-March, Lithuanian security service officials warned Paksas of Borisov’s relationship with Acas. Similar warnings from Western diplomats and intelligence agencies followed. According to Aloyzas Sakalas, who is heading the special Parliament investigation, Paksas ignored all the warnings.
"He did not do anything," Sakalas said, "and that is very serious."
Paksas did suspend Acas after the scandal broke earlier this month. He also tried to distance himself from Borisov and his demands for general’s stripes and a presidential adviser’s job. That angered Borisov, who during a taped conversation in March threatened to blackmail the president.
"He sold me out," Borisov said, speaking to a Paksas associate. "I’m going to get my money back. I’m going to go public with everything." A month later, Paksas granted another request from Borisov for Lithuanian citizenship, a decision now under investigation by Lithuania’s constitutional court.
The security service report also alleges that Paksas’ advisers had indirect links with Anzor Kikalishvili, a Russian businessman who has been barred from entering the U.S. because of his alleged ties to Russian organized crime. Kikalishvili’s close associates include reputed Russian mobster Alimzhan Tokhtakhounov, who was charged with organizing a scheme to fix the pairs skating competition at the Winter Olympics in Salt Lake City last year.
Paksas, 47, has said he refuses to resign but has sidestepped questions about the allegations contained in the report. He has refused to appear before Sakalas’ commission. Attempts to reach him or his representatives were unsuccessful. Borisov did not respond to a request for an interview.
Many Lithuanians attending a recent anti-Paksas rally in front of the presidential palace said it’s not just the scandal allegations that have them calling for his impeachment. Unlike his predecessor, Paksas doesn’t look the part of a head of state, they say.
"He doesn’t come across as prepared," said Romas Taurozas, 45, a construction company director. "He’s weak, he’s a technocrat, and he doesn’t have the confidence of the people."
To impeach Paksas, his opponents in Parliament would need a three-fifths majority. Analysts are split on whether the backers of impeachment have the votes.
Nevertheless, Lithuanians wearied by corruption scandals and dissatisfied with economic growth have a short fuse when it comes to their politicians. In every general election since the republic gained its independence, Lithuanians have voted against the incumbent government.
"We made this mistake ourselves by electing this guy into power," said Zeta Mikoliuniene, one of an estimated 3,000 Lithuanians at the anti-Paksas rally. "Now we learn he has greatly compromised himself. It’s time for him to resign."
http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/nationworld/chi-0311270358nov27,1,2
047683.story
sikau ir tapsnojau…this is a real situation…
I believe paksas ,I think Hi don’t lie for me . I dont’t believe, what people can be such bad . We must help and suport him . When he woul be taked to prison I carry him 
, because kidness do us better. But real paksas is , 
. Don’t believe him.
Report slams Lithuania president
President Rolandas Paksas
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President Rolandas Paksas denies any wrongdoing
A Lithuanian report has criticised the office of President Rolandas Paksas over alleged "inappropriate" links that could lead to a possible impeachment.
Ties are alleged with the mafia, a businessmen accused of illegal arms deals and the Russian secret service.
The report said the president "has been and is vulnerable", and the situation was a threat to national security.
Mr Paksas denies any involvement in the scandal and, after the report, said he would not resign.
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Taking into account the special status of the president, his responsibility and his role in domestic and foreign policy, this poses a threat to Lithuanian national security
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Commission report
The chairman of the commission drawing the report said Mr Paksas himself had been responsible for at least one information leak.
"We have solid proof that secret information has at least once leaked from the president himself," said Aloyzas Sakalas. "If I was in the president’s shoes, I would resign."
Prime Minister Algirdas Brazauskas echoed the call.
Calm
The report will be considered on Tuesday by parliament, which must decide whether to push for the president’s impeachment or even to oust him.
The support of 36 out of 141 MPs is needed to proceed with impeachment, while 86 lawmakers would have to vote to remove Mr Paksas from office.
The 10-page document says the alleged mafia and secret service connections of his office amount to a threat to the nation.
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REPORT’S MAIN CLAIMS
Russian firm allegedly tied to secret service tried to influence president’s office
President’s key financial backer, aided by same firm, exercised influence
Criminals and shady businessmen influenced office and tried to change key legal personnel President tried to use unacceptable influence on business issues
President tolerated his staff wrongly interfering in other departments
Classified information leaked, including to people subject to investigation
"Taking into account the special status of the president, his responsibility and his role in domestic and foreign policy, this poses a threat to Lithuanian national security," the report said.
The investigators say they confirmed the contents of an earlier intelligence report, which alleged the ties with the mafia and Russian secret service - and said Lithuania was used as a base for the financing of international terrorism.
"The commission determined that the security report is accurate," said Mr Sakalas.
"I agree with the commission’s conclusions in general, expect for one thing: There is not a threat to national security," said the prime minister in his first reaction to the report.
Over the last several weeks there have already been big demonstrations in front of the presidential palace in Vilnius calling for Mr Paksas, a former Soviet aerobatics champion, to resign. On Sunday, some 5,000 people marched through the city demanding his resignation, but he has resisted the calls.
"I’m as calm as a Belgian," Mr Paksas said, using a traditional Lithuanian phrase.
The political scandal comes as Lithuania prepares to join the European Union and Nato next year.
As a politician Paksas is dead.More and more people do not believe him.That’s is the end of his career
That is a good lesson for other politicians in future