Center Party to pay money back to Tallinn in Savisaar's stead
The precept issued to the Center Party's former longtime chairman Edgar Savisaar by the Estonian Supervisory Committee on Party Financing (ERJK) to return over €116,000 to the City of Tallinn will be fulfilled by the party itself.
"The party announced in a letter immediately prior to the meeting that it would fulfill the precept issued to Edgar Savisaar in his stead," Zoja Masso, financial adviser to the committee, told BNS on Thursday.
She said that in line with a request by the Center Party, the committee offered the party a payment plan whereby the party would pay back the full amount in quarterly installments by the 15th of every month over a four-month period beginning on Feb. 15.
In January 2015, the ERJK ordered Savisaar, then mayor of Tallinn and chairman of the Center Party, to pay the city back over €116,000 of city budgetary funds spent on election ads ahead of the 2013 local elections, eliminate deficiencies in the party's report on the financing of the 2013 campaign as well as provide proof of these requirements having been met.
Savisaar contested the precept in a court of law. It entered into force, however, following the Supreme Court's rejection of the former party leader's appeal on Nov. 10 of last year.
Editor: Editor: Aili Vahtla
Source: BNS