According to information available to BNS, flight on the eight-seat business-class to Astana and back could have cost about 13,000 litas (EUR 3,770) per passenger.
Meanwhile the Economy Ministry told BNS the round trip for the minister and her two advisers cost a total of 8,000 litas.
The ministry confirmed to BNS on Tuesday that Vėsaitė took the charter flight to the Kazakh capital to attend a meeting of the Lithuania-Kazakhstan intergovernmental trade and economic cooperation commission and a business forum.
According to information available to BNS, the minister was taken by the eight-seat Hawker 800.
Vytautas Kučinskas, president of the Arvi group that develops business in Kazakhstan, confirmed to BNS on Tuesday that the flight was ordered by Arvi.
"The total price for the flight of the minister and her two advisers was 8,100 litas (2,700 litas per person). Meanwhile, a price per person on a regular route is 2,631 litas," the Economy Ministry said in a comment to BNS on Tuesday afternoon.
The ministry has not yet paid for the flight to Kazakhstan, saying the bill will be paid after provision of the service.
Aviation specialists told BNS that the small business-class Hawker is capable of flying all the way to Kazakhstan without any landing. A single roundtrip charter flight between Vilnius and Kazakhstan may cost about 30,000 euros, with the flight for a single passenger standing at 13,000 litas.
The distance between Vilnius and Astana is more than 3,000 kilometers.
The Lithuanian delegation to Kazakhstan consisted of 30 persons, including ten officials of the Economy Ministry (among them – two vice-ministers), two officials of each of the following ministries: Transport and Communications, Health Care and Agriculture, an official of the Education and Science Ministry, and top executives of ten business companies.
The remaining part of the delegation took a regular flight via Kiev.
Lithuania's President Dalia Grybauskaitė has commented that Vėsaitė's flight to Kazakhstan on an airplane chartered by a business company means binding to businesses and raises doubts about the transparency of the minister's operations.
"Under the law of public and private interests in public service, a person working in a state service cannot accept gifts and services, if this might lead to a conflict of public and private interests. A trip on a business-class charter airplane means direct biding to businessmen, which raises doubts about the transparency of the minister's work," presidential spokeswoman Daiva Ulbinaitė told BNS on Tuesday.
In her words, "business-class flights by members of the government, especially charter flights, is irresponsible wastage."
Prime Minister to turn to ethics watchdog
Lithuania's Prime Minister Algirdas Butkevičius said on Tuesday he had instructed the government's chancellor to turn to the Chief Official Ethics Commission over Economy Minister Vėsaitė's charter flight to Kazakhstan.
"Every leader, minister or not, should think twice before taking a private company's airplane for a business trip. There's nothing wrong with the entire group or delegation going to a forum together with business figures on a charter flight. However, as I learned today, the airplane was small and some of the delegation members took other flights, while she (Vėsaitė) chose this flight, the issue will be examined further by way of taking the matter to the Chief Official Ethics Commission – I gave instructions to the government chancellor this morning," the prime minister told journalists on Wednesday.
Earlier this morning, Butkevičius said he did not censure Vėsaitė's trip on the airplane booked by Arvi company, saying that this was done to save the minister's time. However, the prime minister acknowledged it was best for all members of the delegation to fly together.
“I think that the airplane only has seven seats, as far as she notified me, so this is the number that could fit there. Of course, I think the businessmen could have organized a charter flight for all participants of the conference so that they could all fly together. Then it would be a positive thing,“ Butkevičius told Laisvoji Banga radio.
He added that a similar practice was widespread in the West, providing they are made public.
