Not only Vilnius, but all of Lithuania is waiting for the mayor Valdas Benkunskas, who was the main National Stadium opponent of the project, and from 2020 "converted" and became his biggest supporter and most important negotiator, would publicly answer some very important questions. First of all, whose interests does he represent: as the mayor of the city of Vilnius, or as a member of the TS-LKD party, possibly the business interests of the family of his party leader, Gabrielias Landsbergis.
Because, during the entire National Stadium epic, it turned out that BaltCap the fund company BaltCap Infrastructure Fund is closely related to the million-dollar investments in the Queen Martha School and the "Vaikystės Sodas" kindergarten. They invested neither much nor little in Lansbergi's business - about 11 million. euros.
This transaction, as well as the contract with the Vilnius City Municipality regarding the National Stadium, was organized by BaltCap partner Šarūnas Stepukonis, who is suspected of gambling and money embezzlement.
Isn't it a coincidence that the then vice mayor of Vilnius was the conservatives of the Patriotic Union V. Benkunskas changes his negative and strict stance on the National Stadium project almost at the same time as the family of his party chairman G. Landsbergis negotiates with BaltCap for 11 million. EUR investments in his family business.
Another interesting "coincidence" is that it is publicly stated that Vilnius city municipalities the mayor and the BaltCap Foundation work with the same law firm, TGS Baltic. Therefore, the question of whether the people of Vilnius and the entire Lithuanian society (after all, the stadium is national!) can receive objective information about what is happening with the stadium, remains open. by the way Vilnius city municipality and its subsidiaries also worked with the law firm "Wint law firm" for a long time (after the merger, the firm's name became "Noor", whose client is "Balt Cap"). These institutions used to fall under the supervision of V. Benkunskas. Why is this important? Because the nephew of V. Benkunskas, also a member of the council, Mantas Benkunskas worked at Wint law firm.
As for the problems of BaltCap fund partners, it is a matter of a private company, but their problems must not be solved with the money of the people of Vilnius. The works on the territory of the stadium have not been carried out since November 2023, although the possibility of stopping such works for such reasons, which I have already talked about several times, is not in the contract. In other words, this suspension of work can already be treated as a breach of contract and grounds for terminating that contract.
I will also remind you that BaltCap only lends money received from banks to the city of Vilnius after putting on its own margin (political risk). Currently, the price of this money for Vilnius would be about 10-11 percent. annual interest, when the city and the Government can borrow much more cheaply.
Therefore, I urge the city manager representing Vilnius not to remain silent, but to take clear actions:
1. Record the suspension of construction as a breach of contract. But we see the opposite. V. Benkunskas immediately publicly declares that the winter is cold, so the suspension of works is simply not a ``suspension'', but a ``break''.
2. Publicly announce the indexation amount requested by BaltCap. This would avoid speculation, especially knowing that the fund is negotiating an exit from the contract and not the project itself.
3. Take clear action (instead of waiting for four months already!): demand a guarantee, take ownership of the technical project and announce a new simple tender for the construction contract.
After all, there would be a lot of competition in such a competition, which would show the real price of the national stadium and the fastest time to build it. Especially since the construction of the National Complex could be divided into parts. It would be fair and just, and there would be no need to waste time explaining who lost what and in which casino.
And at the end, I will remind you about the decision of the Court of Appeal of Lithuania in 2021, which fixed the position of the city of Vilnius at the time: "... the concession agreement precisely stipulates that financing construction - and even possible changes in their prices - must private subject."
Mere, what changed your position again? And why? The most honest solution for the mayor of Vilnius, Valdas Benkunskas, is to resign from the position of the head of the inter-institutional management group of the Multi-functional Complex due to the many conflicts of interest.
Author: Artūras Zuokas
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