"The report confirmed my doubts that I voiced seven or eight days ago, when I said I had questions," Ratas said.

"A situation where there are suspicions of conflict of interest and truthfulness concerning a member of the government is worrying, of course" Ratas added.

The PM said that a decision regarding Järvik requires him to meet the chairmen of both of Centre's coalition partners face to face. "I do not know when that could be. One chairman (Isamaa leader Helir-Valdor Seeder – ed.) is coming from abroad," he said.

ERR's political editor Toomas Sildam wrote on Friday that the law does not prescribe severance pay for a minister who resigns. However, if the proposal to release the minister from office comes from the prime minister, the outgoing minister will be paid half a year's salary. That is a little over €30,000. Sildam suggested that the coalition seems to be going for the latter option.

"It is true that a distinction is made when one leaves voluntarily. There has been an example in the Centre Party. Back then, it was between the finance ministry and the government office. Today, we have concluded that when a minister quits voluntarily, no compensation is in order. In this case, it is a matter of what the minister feels, whether he has made a mistake or not. So far, his comments following the report have been that he has done nothing wrong and will not resign.

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