Security Committee Backs Claims Against Savisaar
In addition to funds for the construction of a church, opposition Centre Party leader and Tallinn Mayor Edgar Savisaar did indeed ask Russia for money to finance his party, the Government Security Committee has concluded after reviewing material provided it by the national counterintelligence agency KAPO.
The committee said that KAPO had blocked the party's covert financing, uudised.err.ee reported.
The committee also recommended that KAPO make the details of the case open to the public, at least as much as it can without compromising sources and methods of operation.
Savisaar has found himself at the center of a political scandal in recent days after a Postimees article, based on leaked information, said KAPO discovered that Savisaar had received 1.5 million euros from Russian sources for party financing and considered him an "agent of Russian influence."
Savisaar has countered that he was given the money for the construction of an Orthodox church in the Tallinn district of Lasnamäe.
On December 21, Savisaar hit back at KAPO with his own accusation, demanding that the organization release recordings of a meeting he said he had with KAPO Director General Raivo Aeg and an otherwise unnamed colleague, Aleksander.
"That would negate a lot of speculation and would show what role KAPO and the intelligence agencies of other countries played in this whole story," said Savisaar.
"The fact that some forces in Russia want to eliminate Savisaar, who is defending the interests of Estonia, is not news to people who know recent history. But the fact that they use support from the Estonian secret services is a scandal of at least the same magnitude as the attack on the construction of a church just before Christmas," Savisaar said.