Lithuania

The goal of the Financial Crime Investigation Service, which falls under the Ministry of the Interior, is to elaborate methods of combating criminal activities against the state financial system. In pursuing this goal, the FCIS plays an active part in implementing the national programmes of crime prevention and control. The Service pursues its goals by implementing operational measures, disclosing, preventing and conducting the pre-trial investigation of criminal acts, implementing measures to combat money laundering, and the means, which control the legitimacy of the receipt and use of the financial support funds of the European Union and other countries.

The State Border Guard, which falls under the Ministry of the Interior, has the following tasks:

• to guard the state border on land, in the sea, in the Curonian Lagoon and in frontier inland waters;
• to control persons and means of transport crossing the state border;
• to enforce frontier and border-crossing regulations;
• to enforce environmental protection regulations at state border protection facilities and control the use of natural resources in the frontier zone;
• to contribute to the enforcement of customs regulations;
• to contribute to state control over migration;
• to take part in search and rescue activities in the sea, in the Curonian Lagoon and in frontier inland waters;
• to help ensure public order and implement other law enforcement functions in the frontier zone;
• to defend the state in time of war as an integral part of the military forces.

The Lithuanian Police is comprised of the Police Department under the Ministry of the Interior, local police branches, special police institutions and educational police institutions. The Police Department helps the Police Commissioner General to create a strategy of activities and control its implementation. The Department is also responsible for managing local police branches. Local police branches are police offices located in the community that are responsible for executing certain functions defined by the law. Special police offices are police branches founded according to a no territorial principle. They implement functions defined by the law for this type of police department. Educational police institutions are police training institutions established by the Police Commissioner General to ensure the continuous training and professional, in-service development of police officers.

The tasks of the Special Investigation Service are:

• to carry out intelligence activities in detecting corruption-related crimes;
• to conduct interviews and preliminary investigations;
• to collect, store, analyse and summarise information on corruption and related social and economic phenomena;
• to implement, jointly with other public bodies and civil society organisations, crime control and prevention measures and anti-corruption education programmes.

The State Security Department is a state institution accountable to the Seimas (Parliament) and the President, and charged with protecting the sovereignty of the Republic of Lithuania and its constitutional system. The Department’s role is to identify activities which constitute a threat to the security of the state, its territorial inviolability and integrity, the interests of the state, and its economic and defence potential. It combats such activities and investigates their causes with means provided by the law.

Lithuanian Customs falls under the Ministry of Finance. Its Law Enforcement branch comprises the Customs Criminal Service, Violation Prevention Divisions within the Customs Department (Headquarters) and regional Customs Houses, and the Internal Investigation Service.

The Customs Criminal Service has the following competences:

• pre-trial investigation of customs-related crimes;
• operational activities (surveillance, interception, undercover operations, etc.);
• intelligence & analysis;
• cooperation on national and international levels;
• assistance in customs criminal cases under Naples II Convencion;
• administrating of the Customs Risk Management system.

The Violation Prevention Divisions have the following competences:

• risk profiling;
• activity in mobile groups (inland control);
• K-9 service;
• X-ray scanning;
• coordination of customs units through 24/7 Liaison Centre;
• mutual assistance in customs matters.

The Internal Investigation Service has the following competences:

• corruption prevention (integrity);
• pre-employment checks;
• investigating grievances.