VILNIUS — Lithuanian President Dalia Grybauskaitė is calling for the immediate resignation of Speaker of the Seimas Arūnas Valinskas after his former political ally accused him of having ties to a criminal brigade.

Speaker of the Seimas Arūnas Valinskas

Aleksandras Sacharukas, a parliamentarian and former member of Valinskas’ National Resurrection Party has repeatedly told the media that Valinskas is connected to Rolandas Michalskis, allegedly a member of Kaunas organized crime brigade Daktarai (The Doctors), headed by the notorious Henrikas Daktaras is currently on the lam. Now photos of Valinskas socializing with Daktaras are circulating in the Lithuanian media.

Valinskas, the former darling of the Lithuanian entertainment scene, submitted a private court claim on Aug. 25 accusing Sacharukas of slander.

Sacharukas claims that Michalskis, the husband of an active National Resurrection Party (NRP) member, approached him on Valinskas’ recommendation with a request to find out the criminal police’s information on the brigade.

Being the member of an organized crime prevention service, Sacharukas could have access to the information but refused to provide it. He says he immediately informed the authorities of the attempt and an alleged suggestion by Valinskas “to keep it down.”

Valinskas denies the accusations and claims he should wait till the autumn session to verify whether he has lost the confidence of the parliament.

However, President Grybauskaitė announced on Friday and repeated again on Sunday and Monday that “there’s nothing to verify anymore.” She insisted Valinskas must undertake the moral and political responsibility and resign immediately.

Prime Minister Andrius Kubilius said on Aug. 25 he supports the view of the president. He added, however, that in his opinion Valinskas could still redeem himself in the eyes of the public pending the parliamentary confidence vote. Resignation of the parliamentary speaker does not cause any threats to the strength of the coalition, Kubilius said. However, the NRP is the coalition’s second-largest member and some political analysts say the party’s problems could bring instability to the coalition while its attempting to pass painful austerity measures.

The open controversy between Valinskas and Sacharukas started when the NRP coalition split into two in July, leaving Valinskas and Sacharukas on opposing sides of the barricades. Afterward the NRP, headed by Valinskas, excluded Sacharukas and three other MPs from the party on July 24 for “discrediting of the party’s name.”