Weekly: Businessman Buys Jailed Official's House to Get Even
In an epilogue to a story involving old foes, Russian businessman Alexander Tarasenko's company has purchased the farmhouse of Indrek Põder, a former high-level Estonian security official who was sentenced to four years in prison in 2012.
Põder was forced to put on auction the roughly 10-hectare property in Võru County in order to pay the state 180,000 euros in damages related to his bribery and influence peddling charges.
Eesti Ekspress reported the house was sold earlier this month to none other than Tarasenko, who accused Põder of extortion in a messy business dispute in 2011, involving individuals known to the police for their criminal connections.
Authorities say Tarasenko had become wrapped up in an affair in which an Estonian company had seized 670,000 euros from his business partner, Igor Berezovski. To legitimize the seizure, Põder had attempted to force Tarasenko into admitting that he owed the Estonian company money. Tarasenko accused Põder of threatening to strip him of his Estonian residence permit and jailing him. Several individuals were found guilty in the conspiracy, including Põder, who the court said had demanded a 324,000-euro bribe for his part.