Lithuania's PM-designate sold state land at fivefold profit while serving as mayor
Mindaugas Sinkevičius, Lithuania's newly appointed prime minister, sold a state-owned land plot for five times its purchase price less than a year after acquiring it, an investigation reveals.
Prime Minister-designate Mindaugas Sinkevičius has come under scrutiny after an LRT investigation published Wednesday revealed that he sold a state-owned land plot in central Jonava at a fivefold profit less than a year after buying it. In January 2024, the government transferred 457 state land plots to the Jonava district municipality. Among them was a plot on Jonas Basanavičius Street, which Sinkevičius, then mayor of Jonava, purchased at a public auction in spring 2024 for the starting price of 11,671 euros. He was the sole bidder.
In 2025, the company Fondatum bought the plot from him for 55,000 euros. At the time, controversial Lithuanian politician Viktoras Uspaskichas was one of the firm's ultimate beneficial owners. Sinkevičius told LRT he participated in the auction as an ordinary citizen and followed standard procedures. The municipality stated it was not involved in any decisions concerning that specific plot.
The investigation also found that Sinkevičius acquired land worth approximately 100,000 euros during 2024–2025, despite annual declarations showing that at the end of 2023, he and his wife held only 21,000 euros in credit institutions and other assets. He has not yet submitted a declaration for 2024. Following parliamentary approval, Sinkevičius was appointed prime minister by the president on Tuesday. He previously served as mayor of Jonava from 2011 to 2016 and again from 2019.
