Former adviser seeking disciplinary action against prosecutor general
Former finance minister's adviser Kersti Kracht, who is suspected of corruption, is pursuing disciplinary action against Estonian Prosecutor General Andres Parmas.
"I submitted an application to Minister of Justice Maris Lauri for launching disciplinary proceedings against Prosecutor General Andres Parmas due to Parmas lying on "Esimene stuudio" ("First Studio") [current affairs show of public ETV television] on Tuesday. He claimed that the monitoring of communications data had been declared lawful by an order of the court," Kracht said on social media.
The former ministerial adviser opined that Parmas is unfit to serve as prosecutor general and highlighted parts in the court order to corroborate her position.
"Ensuring fair proceedings and preparedness of the defense has not been compromised in this case by the refusal to introduce the permission to request data from the communications company as K. Kracht and her defense counsel can appeal against the permission on the basis of sections 228 to 231 of the Code of Criminal Procedure after the permission has been made available to them," the court said.
"Contesting the lawfulness of the permission would be premature before K. Kracht and her defense counsel have familiarized themselves with the permission. The defense counsel have also said in their complaint to the county court that getting acquainted with the permission is necessary for checking if it has indeed been granted for the purpose of collecting evidence in the criminal case or if it has been done for some other diverging reason. According to the defense counsel, doing so is important for verifying if the permission granted is compatible with the requirements laid down in the judgment of the European Court of Justice in the case C-746/18. As the permission for requesting data from the communications company has at present been contested prematurely, the court will not assess the lawfulness of said permission as part of the current appeal proceedings and will not address the positions set out in the complaint submitted to the Office of the Prosecutor General on April 22, 2021, as well as to the county court," it said.
Disciplinary proceedings can be sought with the minister of justice if the submitter of the request has a legitimate interest for doing so. With the issue concerning Kracht directly through criminal proceedings, this clause has been met.
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Editor: Helen Wright
