Temporary Port of Tallinn board member prioritizes cooperation with authorities
Lawyer and academic Carri Ginter, who was named as one of two new temporary Port of Tallinn board members, said his main task is to guarantee smooth cooperation between the company and the authorities.
Both board members, including the CEO, of state-owned Port of Tallinn have resigned following corruption allegations, and a criminal investigation which was began at the beginning of the year, but was only made public a few days ago, has been launched.
Ain Kaljurand and Allan Kiil, the two men in question, were detained on Wednesday and an arrest warrant was issued today. The two will remain in custody for up to six months.
Ginter said he will begin to review old procurements and documents. Marko Raid, the company's CFO and now the other temporary board member, said it is currently not clear if past contracts will be canceled or not. “If a person allegedly received a bribe during a transaction, it does not automatically mean the deal is annulled,” he said.
Ginter and Raid were named as temporary board members by the supervisory board on Thursday. The supervisory board will begin the process to find new, permanent, company heads, but no deadline has been set yet.
Kaljurand and Kiil were detained on Wednesday on corruption charges with the Prosecutor's Office saying bribes could have been accepted by the two over many years and dating back to as far as 2009.
Six other persons have also been detained, on suspicion of giving bribes. The interested parties behind the bribes are thought to be a group of Estonian transit businessmen.
Editor: J.M. Laats