The Financial Crime Investigation Service or FNTT ( lt, Finansinių nusikaltimų tyrimo tarnyba) is a

Lithuania Lithuania (; lt, Lietuva ), officially the Republic of Lithuania ( lt, Lietuvos Respublika, links=no ), is a country in the Baltic region of Europe. It is one of three Baltic states and lies on the eastern shore of the Baltic Sea. Lithuania ...

law enforcement agency A law enforcement agency (LEA) is any government agency responsible for the enforcement of the laws. Jurisdiction LEAs which have their ability to apply their powers restricted in some way are said to operate within a jurisdiction. LEAs ...

under the

Ministry of the Interior An interior ministry (sometimes called a ministry of internal affairs or ministry of home affairs) is a government department that is responsible for internal affairs. Lists of current ministries of internal affairs Named "ministry" * Ministry ...

. It is primarily responsible for investigating the

financial crime Financial crime is crime committed against property, involving the unlawful conversion of the ownership of property (belonging to one person) to one's own personal use and benefit. Financial crimes may involve fraud (cheque fraud, credit card fr ...

and

money laundering Money laundering is the process of concealing the origin of money, obtained from illicit activities such as drug trafficking, corruption, embezzlement or gambling, by converting it into a legitimate source. It is a crime in many jurisdictions ...

History

The institution was first established on 4 February 1997 as a ''Tax Police Department'' under the Ministry of the Interior. In 2002 it was reorganized and renamed to the Financial Crime Investigation Service. Since 2002 it also closely cooperates with the

European Anti-Fraud Office The European Anti-Fraud Office (commonly known as OLAF, from the french: Office européen de lutte antifraude) is a body mandated by the European Union (EU) with protecting the Union's financial interests. It was founded on 28 April 1999, unde ...

Notable cases

In October 2018 it announced that it had detected a fraud against the National Health Insurance Fund where more than 1,200 Polish people were given fake employment contracts in Lithuania to get refunds of healthcare costs to which they were not entitled. They did not in fact work in Lithuania, but claimed to be eligible for sickness and maternity benefits under

European Union law European Union law is a system of rules operating within the member states of the European Union (EU). Since the founding of the European Coal and Steel Community following World War II, the EU has developed the aim to "promote peace, its valu ...

. 120,000 euros were transferred from the fund in respect of 420 bogus employees to the

Narodowy Fundusz Zdrowia The Narodowy Fundusz Zdrowia is the National Health Fund of Poland. It was established by Act of the Sejm of 27 August 2004 on a proposal of Mariusz Lipinski, then the minister of health that there should be just one centralized government instit ...

before the fraud was detected.

References

External links

Official website
{{Authority control Law enforcement agencies of Lithuania Anti-money laundering organizations