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The Panevėžys Regional Court found Alfonsas Gasparavičius, a former member of the Ignalina District Municipal Council, guilty of three deliberate criminal offences: fraud, document forgery, and abuse of authority. A. Gasparavičius committed these crimes while serving as a member of the Ignalina District Council during the 2019–2023 term.

Although the defendant fully admitted his guilt and voluntarily compensated the municipality €14,694.16 during the pre-trial investigation (almost three times the amount of the ascribed pecuniary damage), the court imposed a final combined fine of 100 MGL (€5,000), which he was ordered to pay within one year. Additionally, the convicted person was subject to a criminal measure of influence: the right to be elected or appointed to elective or appointed positions in state or municipal institutions, and their agencies or enterprises was revoked for three years.

As established by the court, A. Gasparavičius served as a member of the Ignalina District Municipal Council from April 2019 to April 2023. Due to his advanced age and old car, he used the services of acquaintances and party members for rides to perform his Council duties, paying them in cash.

To receive compensation for transport expenses, which exceeded 15 thousand euros during the term, the defendant, as he stated himself, got involved in a forgery scheme at the initiative of a party colleague.

Through his own efforts or those of the drivers, receipts were collected at gas stations that actually belonged to other customers. The receipts revealed that payments were made with as many as 96 different bank cards.

Gas station operators, by entering A. Gasparavičius's personal data into the receipts of customers who did not take their checks, falsified 117 nominal documents. A. Gasparavičius continuously submitted these knowingly forged genuine documents to the municipality's accounting department to seek compensation, despite not having actually incurred the fuel expenses. It was established that A. Gasparavičius received €5,823.73 in municipal funds, which were disbursed to him unjustly.

The court, based on the defendant's own testimony, the explanations of witnesses—gas station employees and individuals who bought fuel—and the audit report data, concluded that the defendant's actions meet the elements of document forgery, fraud, and abuse of office.

The court noted that abuse of office for financial gain is a particularly dangerous act that caused significant non-pecuniary damage to the Ignalina District Municipality.

"A. Gasparavičius, as a member of the Ignalina District Municipal Council, '... violated the principle of the rule of law enshrined in the Constitution of the Republic of Lithuania, the requirements of the Law on Harmonisation of Public and Private Interests of the Republic of Lithuania...', and thus '... diminished the authority of the public legal entity – the Ignalina District Municipality – in the eyes of the public, undermined trust in it, and created an impression of arbitrariness among the council members working there...'," noted Judge Valdas Ciesiūnas.

The court also took into account that the defendant involved other persons, including gas station operators, in the scheme to seize funds, which proves the danger of his intentional actions.

Although A. Gasparavičius compensated the pecuniary damage, and mitigating circumstances were established, the court emphasised that the defendant's criminal acts, carried out over a long period and abusing his official position, cannot be considered a minor misconduct or merely an ethics violation.

The judgment of the Panevėžys Regional Court may be appealed to the Lithuanian Court of Appeals within 20 days.

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