Back in September 2011, IBM informed the authorities that it was putting the implementation of the project on hold and in June 2012 it proposed to cancel its agreement with Lithuania, Economy Minister Birutė Vėsaitė told BNS on Monday.
"This makes the continuation of this project an option that is difficult to pursue. Therefore, the ministries for economy and education are considering the remaining alternatives, which are the liquidation of the enterprise or its bankruptcy. All possible positive and negative consequences will be carefully considered before a decision on what to do is made. The aim is to choose the most politically and legally advantageous alternative," she said in a comment sent to BNS.
Vėsaitė said last week that while only one patent had been commercialized since the establishment of the LTC, the Economy Ministry would need 18.9 million litas (EUR 5.5m) of public funds to pay back creditors and cover losses.
The online news site Vz.lt reported on Monday that Lithuania to date had paid IBM 10 million litas under the agreement signed in 2010.
Following the signing of the agreement for the establishment of the LTC between the Lithuanian government and IBM in the autumn of 2010, it was planned that the research center would be allocated more than 40 million litas annually, or 200 million litas over a period of five years, of which around 130 million litas was to be paid to IBM for patenting and advice.
Meanwhile, the Lithuanian National Audit Office is consulting prosecutors about whether there were signs of criminal activity in the cooperation with IBM.
Rasa Gabrilavičienė, the director of the office's Audit Department Five, confirmed this on Monday, adding that the prosecutors had not yet informed the office about their findings.
In June 2011, the Economy Ministry earmarked 39 million litas in EU aid for the LTC, but the money was not paid and the company did not carry out any operations. The Lithuanian Business Support Agency in 2011 refused to give the go-ahead for millions of litas in payments to the company, which is owned by the two ministries.
It was planned that the center and IBM would have equal rights to use scientific research results and that Lithuanian scientists would be able to work at IBM laboratories in Zurich and Haifa.
