Director of ICDS Resigns Over Fraud
Kadri Liik has stepped down from the post of the director of the International Centre for Defence Studies (ICDS) to continue as a researcher, following an alleged misappropriation of funds by a staff member.
Martin Hurt took over the think tank director's post on August 8. Liik will remain the chief organizer of the Lennart Meri Conference, reported ETV.
Liik's resignation came after the alleged misuse of funds by the former office manager of the ICDS. According to initial reports, Leelet Nellis, the office manager of the foundation created in 2006 by the Ministry of Defence, used at least 15,000 euros from the ICDS funds to pay her own travel bills and other assorted expenses during the previous year.
According to Liik, a compiling full report on the incident is under way.
"It was discovered at the end of May. We have spent the whole summer investigating the incident and putting together a full picture for ourselves. Even though I have not done anything wrong myself, I have clearly put too much trust in one of my colleagues and applied too little scrutiny, so it seemed to me that resigning would be the right thing to do," Liik explained.
Sigrid Maasen