A HIGH-RANKING North-East police officer is in disgrace after causing grave offence in Lithuania by urinating against the presidential palace.

Chief Superintendent Kevin Pitt, 49, of Cleveland Police, was spotted relieving himself in the early hours of yesterday.

It is the latest embarrassing episode in the recent history of the embattled force.

Chief Supt Pitt, the District Commander of Stockton, was in Lithuania on an all-expenses-paid trip to offer advice on anti-corruption inquiries.

Cleveland has plenty of experience in the field. Operation Lancet - launched into the activities of Middlesbrough CID - is one of the longest anti-corruption inquiries ever held into a UK force.

The £7m investigation, which was handled by an external force, ended last year without a single criminal charge being brought.

Chief Supt Pitt and another Cleveland Police officer, Inspector Kerry Anderson, were acting as consultants to Lithuania's Special Investigations Service, a state anti-corruption unit.

The visit had been paid for by European Union aid money.

Cleveland Police had won a contract to teach ethics to police in Lithuania as part of their bid to gain EU status.

But Chief Supt Pitt will now return to the North-East red-faced after his antics provoked outrage.

Police spotted the two British officers on security cameras just after midnight. By the time they arrived, Chief Supt Pitt had relieved himself, but Insp Anderson was still struggling with his trouser zip.

It is understood both officers were arrested but Insp Anderson was not charged with an offence.

Chief Supt Pitt received a ticket for violating public order. He was fined £35.

Chief Supt Pitt reportedly protested his innocence to a local radio station saying he did not know the wall in the old town of Vilnius, Lithuania's capital, was part of the president's palace and would be appealing against the fine.

He said: "I had no intention of insulting the state of Lithuania."

But Liucija Boruseviciene, a police spokeswoman, described the incident as "an outrageous deed - a humiliation of the office of the president."

A statement from Cleveland Police said: "An investigation into this matter is currently under way."

This is not the first time Chief Supt Pitt has faced heavy criticism.

Cleveland Chief Constable Barry Shaw came under pressure to take action against him in June 2000 after he was slated by a High Court judge following the collapse of a £500,000 trial. Cleveland officers Detective Inspector Russ Daglish and Detective Constable Brendon Whitehead stood accused of stealing a central heating boiler at Hull Crown Court.

On the eve of the trial, Chief Supt Pitt, the welfare officer of Det Insp Daglish, submitted a 400-page document which Judge Richard Henriques said was guaranteed to delay the trial and waste a vast amount of public money.

He said "a catalogue of errors by senior members of Cleveland Police force" had turned an inquiry into the alleged theft of a £20 boiler into a farce.

"You have shown absolutely no regard for the criminal justice process," he told Pitt.

Instead of being carpeted, Pitt was put in charge of the force's new ethics department.

The following year, he was sent on an all-expenses paid tour of North America to research ethics.

Chief Supt Pitt also played a senior role in the Operation Lancet inquiry.

He came in for heavy criticism from Lloyd Clarke, the then Assistant Chief Constable of West Yorkshire, who was asked to take over Lancet, and Police Complaints Authority member Tony Williams.

They insisted Pitt be removed from the investigation. He was later made District Commander of Stockton.

A Foreign Office spoke-sman said: "Embassy officials are in contact with the men and are providing consular assistance."