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Abstract:

The Lithuanian government has ordered that a consignment of over four metric tons of beryllium remain stored in the Lithuanian bank Turto bankas. The large quantity of beryllium was initially owned by AMI, a private Russian firm from Yekaterinburg. In 1993, however, a scandal erupted over AMI's decision to deposit the beryllium into a bank vault in the Lithuanian Joint- stock Innovation Bank (LAIB). The fact that beryllium, a strategic and radioactive metal, was being stored in a bank vault stirred controversy within the Lithuanian press. The relatively small amount of the consignment that was radioactive, some 140 kg, was subsequently removed and the rest of the material remained in the bank.

When AMI began to negotiate the sale of the beryllium, however, the Russian and U.S. governments expressed concern over the potential buyer of the material. To allay these fears, Lithuania pledged that the beryllium would not be sold without permission from the government. After the LAIB was liquidated in 1997, the Lithuanian prosecutor general's office decided to remove the consignment of beryllium from the bank and retain the material as evidence in a criminal case. Following the closure of the case, the prosecutor general's office left the fate of the beryllium in the Lithuanian government's hands. Since the assets of the LAIB were transferred to Turto bankas, on 15 April 1998 the government granted possession of the beryllium to Turto bankas. Turto bankas was also ordered to give a detailed description of the material to the Lithuanian Ministry of the Economy.