Viktor Uspaskich
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Viktor Uspaskich (in Lithuanian: Viktoras Uspaskichas) (born 24 July 1959 in Urdoma, Arkhangelsk Oblast, Soviet Union) is a Lithuanian entrepreneur and politician.
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[edit] Early life
He arrived in Lithuania (then the Lithuanian Soviet Socialist Republic) in 1985 and worked as a welder in the gas industry. He left shortly after for Finland, before returning in 1987, divorcing his Russian wife and marrying a Lithuanian woman. He formed his own company Efektas in 1990, and took citizenship of the newly-formed Republic of Lithuania in 1991.
His business empire now includes the importation of natural gas from Gazprom, in addition to successful enterprises in the food production and animal fodder industries.
[edit] Political career
Between 1997 and 2003 he was chairman of the Association of Lithuanian Employers, and in 2000 was selected as a non-party member of the Naujoji sąjunga (New Union) social liberal party in the Seimas (parliament). His own political ambitions led him to form the Darbo Partija (Labour Party) in 2003. The DP scored highly during the 2004 European Parliamentary Elections, gaining 30.2% of the popular vote and returning 5 MEPs. That same year, he became Minister of Economic Affairs in Lithuania's coalition government.
[edit] Political Scandal
In the end of May 2006 his political party Darbo Partija (Labour Party) was suspected of income violations by the financial police. Victor Uspaskich went to his homeland Urdoma (Russia) to his brother's funeral and has not come back since. He is believed to be hidding from the law enforcement.
Lithuania has now issued an arrest warrant for Uspaskich, who is in Russia, as he is suspected of tax fraud.[1]
[edit] Notes
- ^ BBC. Lithuania seeks minister's arrest. Retrieved on August 31, 2006.
