GRECO Officials to Assess Corruption in Estonia
Inspectors from the Council of Europe's Group of States Against Corruption (GRECO) will be paying an official visit to Estonia starting next Monday.
The officials will be checking measures currently used for corruption prevention and the activities of judges and prosecutors, Eesti Päevaleht reported.
Jaime Rodriguez, a spokesman for the Council of Europe, said that the organization will not comment on specific incidents such as the recent scandal involving allegedly illegitimate funding practices in the Reform Party. Nevertheless, he said that GRECO does not support hidden donation schemes in political parties.
A GRECO report published in May also questioned the independence of the Estonian parliamentary committee responsible for keeping an eye on party funding.
Last week, former MP Silver Meikar admitted to funneling thousands of euros of questionable donations to Prime Minister Andrus Ansip’s Reform Party and said that the party's former secretary general, current Minister of Justice Kristen Michal, was also among those involved with hidden donation scheme.
Ingrid Teesalu