Road Administration Head Submits Resignation Amid Scandal
The director of the Road Administration, Tamur Tsäkko, has submitted his resignation one day after the Ministry of Economic Affairs announced it was investigating the agency's management over working visits abroad.
Minister of Economic Affairs Juhan Parts told Äripäev that he considered the agency director's decision wise, but that he would not endorse the resignation before the investigation concludes next week.
Last week, during a trip to Switzerland, leading agency officials enjoyed skiing and an automobile show in Geneva. In February, officials went skiing on another work trip to Sweden.
Wednesday, when the affair became public, the agency director defended his actions at a press conference, saying that the ski excursions were made during free time and that recreational expenses were paid out of the officials' own pockets. "I see this as a way of motivating the employees [...] I don't think it is forbidden in and of itself,” Tsäkko said on Tuesday.
However, the trips lasted longer than they were supposed to - Tsäkko claimed the plane tickets were cheaper that way - and the agency paid for the hotel stays as well as daily allowances. Skeptics have also doubted the legitimacy of including the car show in the program of the working visit.
More peculiar was the fact that, while Tsäkko and two deputies flew to Geneva by plane, the IT department director and administrative director traveled by a government vehicle, in order to carry the ski equipment. But to avoid driving through Poland, the van took a ferry to Germany, which made the trip more expensive than transit via airplane.
Together, the trips to Switzerland and Sweden cost taxpayers around 19,000 euros, according to Äripäev.
“We strictly kept the expenses apart. The Road Administration covered official expenses and 100 percent of non-official expenses were covered by the officials themselves,” Tsäkko said on Tuesday.
Ott Tammik