Toobal, Tuiksoo Cleared of Influence Peddling Charges
The Prosecutor General's office dropped the case against two prominent Centre Party members suspected of influence peddling in relation to 2011 European Capital of Culture contracts.
The Prosecutor General has dropped the case against MP Ester Tuiksoo and Centre Party's Secretary General Priit Toobal who were under investigation for allegedly having influenced the decisions of the Tallinn 2011 Foundation and other city officials in favor of a third party.
The prosecutor's decision was based on a fresh Supreme Court precedent from April 30 which established that influencing a public official does not automatically fall under the categories of crime specified in the Anti-Corruption Act, where money or goods end up in the hands of the official in question.
At the same time another criminal investigation, involving Toobal, continues into the case of stealing the e-mail correspondence of a prominent Social Democrat, Hannes Rumm. The printed correspondence was found by the National Security Agency KAPO during a search of the Centre Party headquarters last fall. Besides Toobal, a former Centre Party member Ivor Onksion and MP Lauri Laasi are on the list of suspects.
Erkki Sivonen