Naftos Grupė transports oil from Baltic ports such as Klaipėda via railroad to oil refineries. Photo by Juozas Šalna.

KLAIPĖDA, Lithuania — The general director and procurement department manager of a Lithuanian oil transport company Naftos Grupė were arrested by police on Thursday under suspicion of embezzling 30 million litai (€8.7 million) via fraudulent sales.

Naftos Grupė General Director Antanas Urbutis will be held in police custody for at least one month and Chief of General Affairs and Procurement Department Svetlana Popova will be held at least two weeks as Lithuania’s Financial Crime Investigation Service examines the case further. The general prosecutor’s pre-trial report on the case alleges that the pair set up shell companies to conduct false transations with Naftos Grupė to bilk their employer.

“It is alleged that the company’s major shareholder [Urbutis], bringing an organized group of fictitious transactions carried out through foreign companies, at least since 2008. Illegal operations carried out with the assistance of his close relatives,” the report reads.

Authorities are alleging the pair stole €8.7 million and had already arranged to take €5.8 million more before their arrests.

The Naftos Grupė worked with the Klaipėdos Nafta oil terminal in Klaipėda Port and Orlen Lietuva to transport gas to and from the country’s oil refinery, hauling 2 million metric tons of oil last year between the two. Neither company had any comment on the arrest other than Klaipėdos Nafta noting that it is not involved in the investigation.

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