TV report: PM almost fell victim to murderers in 2008
Current Prime Minister Taavi Rõivas may have come unsettlingly close to falling prey to criminals who in 2008 lured private sellers of vehicles to a meeting point with the intent to commit car theft and murder, the TV station Kanal 2 reported.
The men, who were convicted that year of the murder of a businessman, Karel Käärson, whom they killed execution-style after finding his number in classified ads, also called four other people, including Rõivas, who was selling an 2007 Audi A6 for around 35,000 euros. The Postimees story in Estonian is here.
Rõivas, who was an MP at that time, was in southern Estonia and could not meet over that summer weekend, court testimony indicates. When he called the men back, the criminals' phone was switched off, and by Thursday that week, the men had been arrested.
Rõivas told the Kanal 2 program, Radar, that the case was "extremely regrettable" and that he had nothing more to add to his brief witness testimony.