The husband of Lithuania’s former social security minister, who had to resign over suspicious family ties, had business dealings with a Russian national convicted for financial crimes.
According to a copy of the contract seen by 15min.lt, Navickas’ company undertook to provide public relations services to Khovratov for a year for an unspecified fee. The services were to include writing articles, creating visuals, monitoring the media and constantly checking search engines for unfavourable information about Khovratov or his business and trying to remove it.
The deal was concluded in May 2021 between Euromedia Monitoring, a company registered in Lithuania, and a Russian citizen, but the contract specifies that it will be carried out in accordance with Swiss law.
Navickas told that he did not know about the contract with Khovratov and the activities of Euromedia Monitoring.
“In fact, I did not contribute to Euromedia Monitoring’s activities, I did not perform any daily activities. I was not involved in any decisions, the CEO of the company was fully in charge of all operational issues […], who to work with, what to do and how to develop the business. I did not communicate with the person you referred to regarding the services you mentioned,” Navickas said in a written reply.
Navickas became a shareholder of Euromed Monitoring in 2016, and in February 2021, this company became a shareholder of Euromedia Monitoring.
According to the media, Khovratov was one of the key people behind Skyway Capital, a financial pyramid scheme, and later moved into the cryptocurrency business.
Anatoly Yunitski, the founder of Skyway Capital, earned some infamy in Lithuania when he tried to propose to the municipality of Šiauliai a cable car project near the NATO air base back in 2014. The contract was cancelled following an intervention by intelligence services and then Prime Minister Algirdas Butkevičius.
In April 2022, Khovratov was arrested for financial crimes and has been serving a five-year prison sentence since January.
Former Social Security Minister Monika Navickienė, Navickas’ spouse, was forced to resign in June due to her links with a fintech company owner Ieva Trinkūnaitė who has recently been caught in the crosshairs of law enforcement and other authorities, and her partner Vilhelmas Germanas (formerly known as Vilius Židelis), who has served time for financial crimes. Navickas has held positions in Trinkūnaitė’s company Foxpay.
