Lithuanian President Dalia Grybauskaitė (left) meets with Darius Valys on Monday.

VILNIUS — President Dalia Grybauskaitė has settled on her final and official candidate for the prosecutor general’s post.

The post has had many names considered for it over the last month, including the acting Prosecutor General Raimondas Petraitis and the Palanga chief prosecutor Nijolė Požarskienė.

Grybauskaitė said the final candidate, Darius Valys, who currently heads the Akmenė District Prosecutor Office was chosen because of his objectivity, readiness to reform the system and his fearlessness of the heavy responsibility that the position brings.

During a meeting with the president on Monday Valys acknowledged that the country’s criminal justice system, which has come under fire in light of the Drąsius Kedys scandal, needed significant reform. The 37-year-old will be one of the youngest Prosecutor Generals in Lithuanian history if he is approved.

Though there had been rumors that other candidates had been put forward, only Valys has got the presidential decree needed for him to be presented to the Lithuanian parliament for consideration. He will be presented to the Seimas for questioning and consideration on Thursday and then they will vote at a later date.

“There was so much gossip before the official candidate. The official candidate becomes official when she signs an official decree. All the other people were not candidates, they were just people that the president discussed with,” Linas Balsys, the president’s spokesman told Baltic Reports.

“She has been communicating with many people, but they werent official candidates. This was a period of looking for the candidate and then when she met finally with Valys and signed the decree he became the candidate,” Balsys said.

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