Corruption, Estonia, Legislation, Port, Transport

"The new board must start with a clean slate, which is why before the election of the board, Port of Tallinn, in essence, goes through three in-depth inspections – in addition to the internal audit and the audit carried out by the temporary member of the board, lawyer Carri Ginter, a special audit will be carried out in the company by an independent auditing company. The auditor focuses on analyzing decisions made by the previous board and on and economic expediency," said Chairman of the Council of AS Tallinna Sadam Remo Holsmer.

Port of Tallinn temporary Board Member Carri Ginter confirmed that there are around ten companies that are involved in the corruption scandal. The other member of the Board, former Port of Tallinn Chief Financial Officer Marko Raid hinted that these ten companies are managed from 2-3 concerns.

Due to the ongoing investigation, the names of the companies cannot yet be revealed although some of them have been mentioned in the Estonian press.

Ginter confirmed that the contracts concluded between Port of Tallinn and other companies will be implemented inspite of everything.

Remo Holsmer said that despite the corruption case, the work of shipyards building the new island ferries for Estonia is in schedule.

Application for the job of board members of Port of Tallinn will end on 5 October. The new board will be chosen by a new council that will be appointed this month.

The by now former management of Estonian state-owned port operator company Tallinna Sadam (Port of Tallinn) is suspected of being involved in a large-scale corruption case. On August 26, Port of Tallinn manager Ain Kaljurand and board member Allan Kiil were arrested, suspected of taking major bribes over several years.