Ministry of Finance to look into Enterprise Estonia support for Ermamaa
The Financial Control Department of the Ministry of Finance will be opening an inquiry to determine whether the decision of Enterprise Estonia to reclaim ten percent of the total support granted to former President Toomas Hendrik Ilves' company Ermamaa OÜ was legal.
As the recent Enterprise Estonia decision has attracted a great deal of attention, the ministry's Financial Control Department will be doing some "advisory work" aimed at assessing the company's eligibility for Enterprise Estonia support and forming an opinion regarding whether the decision to reclaim just ten percent of the 190,392-euro grant was legal, it appears from a letter from the Ministry of Finance.
The work will not be aimed at making a judgement regarding the eligibility for support of the expenses and bills declared within the framework of the project, the ministry department clarified.
In order to carry out the audit, the ministry wants Enterprise Estonia to forward to it at the first opportunity all documents concerning the grant provided to Ilves' company Ermamaa, including the application for this support, the recipient's statements as well as all decisions concerning the project made by the business support organization from 2007-2016.
The ministry also wants Enterprise Estonia to forward to it all other decisions on reclaiming support made during the same period.
Minister of Entrepreneurship Liisa Oviir likewise announced last Friday that she had instructed Enterprise Estonia's supervisory board to conduct an audit of the support granted to Ermamaa.
Enterprise Estonia recently announced that it had claimed back 19,039 euros from Ermamaa OÜ following the receipt of a written notice from Ilves on Monday, Oct. 10 regarding the decision for the company not to continue offering tourist services at Ärma Farm in Viljandi County, the development for which it had received a grant of over 190,000 euros from Enterprise Estonia in 2006. Ilves paid back the required sum on Wednesday, Oct. 12.
Editor: Editor: Aili Vahtla
Source: BNS