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The Panevėžys Regional Court has delivered a final ruling in a criminal case where a farmer from the Zarasai region was convicted of credit fraud and forgery of documents. The court upheld the imposed sentence – a fine of €5,000 – but amended the portion of the judgment concerning a €15,000 civil claim.

The case established that the farmer submitted forged documents to the National Paying Agency (NPA) in an attempt to secure a €15,000 subsidy for the purchase of a tractor. Having purchased the tractor for €23,764, he was required under the support regulations to settle the investment in full using his own funds within 9 months.

Unable to pay the full amount by the deadline, the farmer submitted forged documents to the NPA, in which the price of the tractor was artificially reduced to €19,000. This created the illusion that the purchase had been paid for in full, thereby unlawfully entitling the farmer to the €15,000 subsidy.

Specialists from the Lithuanian Centre for Forensic Expertise confirmed that the documents submitted to the NPA had been fabricated using a "cut-and-paste" method. The first page of a different contract was combined with pages from the original agreement. Additionally, it was determined that the chief accountant's signature on the VAT invoice had also been forged.

The judicial panel rejected the defense's version of events, which claimed the documents were allegedly modified by the tractor dealer due to equipment deficiencies; this claim was unequivocally refuted by the company’s employees and accounting records.

In the appeal, the defendant's counsel emphasized a violation of the ne bis in idem principle (the prohibition against double jeopardy). The counsel noted that the NPA had already issued an administrative decision to recover the full €15,000 in support; therefore, the identical civil claim awarded by the court of first instance imposed an excessive financial burden on the convicted individual.

While the Regional Court confirmed that the conviction and the fine were an appropriate penalty for the crime, it agreed with the defense's arguments regarding the risk of double punishment.

The judicial panel decided to vacate the portion of the judgment regarding the €15,000 in damages, as the farmer is already obligated to return this amount to the NPA through administrative channels. Since the repayment of the support fully covers the loss incurred by the state, the court left the civil claim unexamined to ensure the same amount is not recovered from the convict twice.

The ruling of the Panevėžys Regional Court enters into force on the day of its announcement.

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