KLAIPĖDA, Lithuania — A court in Klaipėda is trying to recover 689,209 litai (€199,800) after 58 city employees were implicated in an illegal benefits scheme.

The four main suspects, Vice Mayor Judita Simonavičiūtė and city council members Valentinas Greičiūnas, Vygantas Vareikis and Antanas Gintautas Murauskas were called to court on Wednesday for a preliminary hearing, where they were informed that they would have to return the money.

The Klaipėda district court informed them of [private_supervisor]its preliminary decision and presented evidence from the municipal inspectorate, a corruption watchdog, about double salaries, extraneous pay and other incidents of illegal money transfer.

The court alleged that office supplies budgets were used to pass the payments off so they would be harder to detect.

Greičiūnas said he didn’t understand why they had to return the stolen money.

“It should not be for those to answer whom the money was transferred to, but for those who paid the money, the municipal government,” the Baltic News Service reported him as saying.

Simonavičiūtė said that they had become hostages of the city council watchdog. Vareikis said when the money was paid, he didn’t understand why, but no one asked questions.

Some have returned money that they obtained illegally, but others have hired lawyers to defend them.

The main hearing has been postponed until June. [/private_supervisor] [private_subscription 1 month]its preliminary decision and presented evidence from the municipal inspectorate, a corruption watchdog, about double salaries, extraneous pay and other incidents of illegal money transfer.

The court alleged that office supplies budgets were used to pass the payments off so they would be harder to detect.

Greičiūnas said he didn’t understand why they had to return the stolen money.

“It should not be for those to answer whom the money was transferred to, but for those who paid the money, the municipal government,” the Baltic News Service reported him as saying.

Simonavičiūtė said that they had become hostages of the city council watchdog. Vareikis said when the money was paid, he didn’t understand why, but no one asked questions.

Some have returned money that they obtained illegally, but others have hired lawyers to defend them.

The main hearing has been postponed until June. [/private_subscription 1 month] [private_subscription 4 months]its preliminary decision and presented evidence from the municipal inspectorate, a corruption watchdog, about double salaries, extraneous pay and other incidents of illegal money transfer.

The court alleged that office supplies budgets were used to pass the payments off so they would be harder to detect.

Greičiūnas said he didn’t understand why they had to return the stolen money.

“It should not be for those to answer whom the money was transferred to, but for those who paid the money, the municipal government,” the Baltic News Service reported him as saying.

Simonavičiūtė said that they had become hostages of the city council watchdog. Vareikis said when the money was paid, he didn’t understand why, but no one asked questions.

Some have returned money that they obtained illegally, but others have hired lawyers to defend them.

The main hearing has been postponed until June. [/private_subscription 4 months] [private_subscription 1 year]its preliminary decision and presented evidence from the municipal inspectorate, a corruption watchdog, about double salaries, extraneous pay and other incidents of illegal money transfer.

The court alleged that office supplies budgets were used to pass the payments off so they would be harder to detect.

Greičiūnas said he didn’t understand why they had to return the stolen money.

“It should not be for those to answer whom the money was transferred to, but for those who paid the money, the municipal government,” the Baltic News Service reported him as saying.

Simonavičiūtė said that they had become hostages of the city council watchdog. Vareikis said when the money was paid, he didn’t understand why, but no one asked questions.

Some have returned money that they obtained illegally, but others have hired lawyers to defend them.

The main hearing has been postponed until June. [/private_subscription 1 year]

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