Ilves rejects Tuiksoo's amnesty plea
President Toomas Hendrik Ilves has rejected a plea by former MP and government minister Ester Tuiksoo. Tuiksoo was found guilty last summer for accepting and giving bribes.
After the Supreme Court ruling, Tuiksoo had to leave Parliament and resign from her party, the Center Party.
“I have of course admitted guilt and would rather not speak about it,” she told Postimees, having previously maintained her innocence.
The Supreme Court upheld her conviction on July 2 last year, in accepting bribes. Besides the rural land scheme, which involved 13 swaps of properties worth 16 million euros, Tuiksoo was accused of accepting a sweetener from businessman Toomas Annus, ex-director of the Land Board, in exchange for favoring his company as a landlord for the Agriculture Ministry's leased premises.
She was given a three-month suspended sentence with six months of probation. The sentence was lightened because of the length of the proceedings, which started last decade.
Editor: J.M. Laats