Vilnius - The Lithuanian Prime Minister, Mr Rolandas Paksas, resigned yesterday over a controversial plan to sell an oil refinery to a US oil company in a deal which had already cost the jobs of another prime minister and two ministers.
Mr Paksas quit after seeing the cabinet, dominated by his own Conservative Party, overrule his opposition to selling the Mazeikiai Nafta refinery to Williams International.
Williams's demand that Lithuania make up in cash a $350 million shortfall in Mazeikiai Oil's operating capital next year has angered many in Lithuania, because the US company will be paying only $150 million over a three-year period for a 33 per cent stake in the refinery.