Daily reveals Tallinn's shady rental deals, including one with Russian embassy
According to Eesti PäevalehtI, the Center Party-led Tallinn City Government has signed a number of very cheap rental deals with people close to the party.
One apartment is just across from the Internal Security Service headquarters in Tallinn, where the city is renting out a 73-square-meter apartment to the Russian embassy with a rental agreement entered into for an unspecified term. The embassy pays the city less than five euros per month for the flat, over 100 less than the market price, the daily reported.
The rental agreement was signed in 1993 and a city representative said there is no plan to review the contract.
Another location is a pavilion on Harjumägi, the hill behind the War of Independence Victory Column, which the city gave to a business for 35 years at a price of 1.84 euros per square meter. ETV's “Pealtnägija” ran a story on that property in 2014, saying the man behind the business has helped the party gain votes in exchange for such low rent.
The Center Party itself is renting a 512-square-meter property on Toompea, paying 1,068 euros per month. Apartments around the area go for around 3-5 times more. A business in the same building pays 13 euros per square meter per month, although the owner of that business made a 700-euro donation to the Center Party in 2011.
The daily brings out a number of other similar deals, not all with a direct Center Party connection, although Mihhail Korb, a party MP, has rented a 73-square meter property near the Tallinn central bus station, for 96 cents per square meter, per month.
Editor: J.M. Laats