Off the wire
• Feature: In heavy downpours, Gazans yearn for faster reconstruction  • Rio 2016 budget revised up  • Interview: Italy eager to lessen inward FDI gap with key EU competitors  • Lithuania's GDP growth slowest in five years  • Spanish stock market rises 2.62 pct, closes at 8,815 points  • Tensions rise in Lebanon's Arsal over jihadists' clashes across border  • British mother convicted of joining IS in Syria  • 2nd LD Writethru: Syria talks start as scheduled in Geneva  • Spanish princess to stand trial as final appeal fails  • Dutch F-16 fighters to join bombing of IS targets in Syria  
You are here: 　 Home

Lithuanian minister of health to resign after admitting bribery

Xinhua, January 30, 2016 Adjust font size:

Lithuania's minister of health Rimante Salaseviciute said on Friday she will submit her resignation request due to involvement in a bribery case.

"I am writing a resignation request," she said in an interview with Lithuanian broadcaster LRT. Salaseviciute added she would submit the request on Monday.

The departing minister became mired in the center of legal affairs earlier this week after publicly admitting she bribed a doctor a few years ago.

On Friday, both Lithuanian President Dalia Grybauskaite and Prime Minister Algirdas Butkevicius suggested Salaseviciute should resign.

"Persons who seek high offices in the country or holding these offices, must have an irreproachable reputation and serve as a professional example to the society," Butkevicius said in a statement.

"Therefore, I will accept Salaseviciute's resignation," he added in the statement.

Grybauskaite said the situation was "very uncomfortable".

"I believe, in this situation the minister must depart. I don't see political possibility(for her) to stay in office," Grybauskaite told reporters.

The minister paid a visit to Lithuania's Special Investigation Service (STT) on Friday and was questioned due to the bribery. STT announced later it would not initiate pre-trial investigation regarding the case.

Salaseviciute has been serving as a minister of health since 2014. Enditem