Saulius Skvernelis, a Lithuanian MP and former parliamentary speaker, has been ordered to wear an electronic ankle tag as part of a bribery investigation, prosecutors have confirmed.
The measure – one of the strictest short of pre-trial detention – can only be imposed by a court and allows authorities to track a suspect's movements and restrict where they can go. Breaching its conditions could see Skvernelis remanded in custody, according to Raimundas Jurka, a lawyer and professor at Mykolas Romeris University.
Investigators allege that between January and November 2025, Skvernelis received around €51,000 in cash bribes, funnelled to him monthly in instalments of €5,000–€10,000 through his adviser, Agnė Silickienė.
She also worked at Lithuania's State Plant Service, headed by Jurijus Kornijenko, who faces separate bribery charges.
Prosecutors say the money originated from a wider bribery scheme within the State Plant Service, part of the agriculture ministry, in which officials allegedly demanded payments, around €250 per certificate, from companies transporting plants and plant products, in exchange for issuing phytosanitary certificates without inspecting the cargo.
