Prosecutor Suspects Tycoon Conspiracy to Stage Contract Killing
The state prosecutor is investigating businessmen Oleg Ljadov, Imre Arakas (infamous for his links to organized crime) and Toomas Tamm – for framing Nikolai Reisman of ordering the contract killing of Tamm.
The suspected conspiracy’s background is explained by a business quarrel between Tamm and Reisman in 2008. Tamm owns the Kiviõli Oil Shale Processing & Chemicals Plant, while Reisman holds 330 hectares of land, on which the government has permitted oil shale mining.
Last year the state got involved after Tamm gave the government an ultimatum, saying that if he did not get possession of Reisman’s property, then his company would close doors in 2010, causing a social catastrophe in a town where many residents work in the oil shale industry. In the spring, the Ministry of Economic Affairs offered Reisman a choice of 320,000 euros or expropriation of his land. Reisman has said that the property is worth 50 million euros.
A long prison sentence for Reisman would have solved Tamm’s problem. The prosecutor’s office suspects Ljadov, Arakas and Tamm of conspiring to have a certain Enriko – who has been convicted of murder before – to give police a fictitious statement, saying that he was paid by Reisman to kill Tamm.
In January, ETV attained an audio recording from Ljadov, who said he taped the conversation between himself, Tamm and Arakas so he could prove his innocence if things got messy. Ljadov’s recording gives the impression that after investing 20,000 euros to stage the would-be contract killing, Tamm wanted to back out of the deal, saying that it was no longer necessary.