The Ministry of Finance has terminated a misdemeanor procedure launched to investigate the Ministry of Education's awarding of contracts for the procurement of rapid coronavirus testing kits for schools by the Ministry of Education in 2021. The criminal proceedings against former Education Minister Liina Kersna (Reform) are still ongoing.

According to the findings of the investigation, there were irregularities in the Ministry of Education and Research's implementation of the Public Procurement Act. However, former Minister of Education and Science Liina Kersna, was found not to be liable.

The proceedings were terminated according to to Section 29(1)(1) of the Code of Misdemeanor Procedure, which states simply that "the act in question does not contain the elements of a misdemeanor." In the absence of any official objections, the termination is affective 15 days after the initial notification.

As the Ministry of Finance is, according to Section 62 of the Misconduct Procedure Act, the proceeding authority in the case, it is not in a position to pass further comment on the decision while the termination of the criminal proceedings still remains pending.

"Understandably, the situation last fall was tense - restrictions were in place, people were anxious, and there was a lot of confusion in society about the rapidly spreading coronavirus," said Kristel Mesilane, director of the Public Procurement and State Aid Department at the Ministry of Finance.

"In order to keep schools open, the government unexpectedly decided that the Ministry of Education and Science must start the rapid testing of children and teachers in schools after the autumn school holidays," Mesilane said.

"The Ministry was in a situation where solutions to ensure testing (took place) had to be found quickly. At the same time, both the public and businesses had the legitimate expectation that the budget allocated for the purchasing of tests would be distributed in a fair and transparent way and in accordance with public procurement rules," Mesilane explained.

After irregularities were revealed in the awarding and modification of the contract to procure rapid testing equipment, the misdemeanor proceedings launched by the Ministry of Finance were divided into two parts. First, to investigate the awarding of the framework contract, and second, to examine the modification of the contract for the second round of procurement of rapid testing equipment.

Proceedings were then opened to investigate the modification of the procurement, or framework, contract in a way, which allegedly breached the requirements of the Public Procurement Act, as well as the awarding of the contract without fully completing the necessary procedures.

Under the Public Procurement Act, the Ministry of Finance is the extra-judicial prosecutor for public procurement offences.

The parties involved are liable for any unlawful modification of a public or framework contract, the awarding of a contract on terms other than those laid out in the basic documents governing the public procurement procedure, and the failure to follow legally required procedures.

The Prosecutor's Office opened criminal proceedings in June, to investigate the Ministry of Education and Research's awarding of the contract to supply rapid covid tests for schools last October. As a result, Liina Kersna resigned from her post as Education and Research Minister.

The Prosecutor's Office told ERR on Friday that, "the criminal investigation is still ongoing."

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