Sarunas Stepukonis, a former partner at the BaltCap Infrastructure Fund, transferred 31.6 million euros to the account of OB Holding 1, the Estonian shareholder of Olympic Casino Group Baltija, a Lithuanian gambling company, Lithuania’s Court of Appeal ruled on Thursday.
The court also ordered Vilnius Regional Court to consider again whether the claim by several companies owned by the BaltCap Infrastructure Fund on the recovery of the tens of millions of euros gambled away by Stepukonis should be heard in a Lithuanian or an Estonian court.
“Sarunas Stepukonis made all payments to OB Holding 1 OU to a Lithuanian (not Estonian) payment account. (…) A total of 31.6 million euros,” the ruling reads.
OB Holding 1 failed to explain why it had an account with Paysera, a Lithuanian payment institution, and why it used the account to accept large sums of money from a client, a Lithuanian citizen, when it was authorized to organize gambling only in Estonia, the BaltCap companies said.
They argue that Olympic Casino failed to ensure socially responsible gambling only and allowed people with gambling problems to gamble.
“The claimants (Zvirgzdaiciu Energija, Nullus and Moelta – BNS) have no doubt that this was not accidental, and this happened not only with the knowledge of Olympic Casino Group Baltija and OB Holding 1, but, in all likelihood, this was done with their recommendation, i.e. it was a conspiracy,” the ruling reads.
“If the defendants (Olympic Casino and OB Holding 1 – BNS) had identified in time that Stepukonis had a gambling addiction and had taken measures, the claimants would not have suffered any damage or it would have been significantly smaller,” the fund companies told the court.
They also suspect that Stepukonis had transferred their funds to his personal account to gamble online.
On Wednesday, the Court of Appeal returned the case on the lawsuit jurisdiction to the court of first instance. OB Holding 1 maintains that Estonian courts should hear the case.
Zvirgzdaiciu Energija, Nullus and Moelta have filed a lawsuit against Olympic Casino Group Baltija and OB Holding 1 to Vilnius Regional Court and are seeking to recover 16.6 million euros and damages.
Source: BNS
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