Eesti 200 on tycoon's contribution: We do not accept illicit donations
The Eesti 200 party, after accepting a major donation from businessman Oleg Ossinovski who is currently on trial in Latvia, said that it treats all donations as ideological and that it does not accept illicit contributions.
ERR sought a comment from Eesti 200 leader Lauri Hussar last week. The party chairman promised to reply via email. ERR asked Hussar whether he holds it right and proper for Eesti 200 to accept donations from a person who is on trial.
The party's press representative Rauno Veri sent this comment on Tuesday.
"Because Lauri is busy with coalition talks, I am relaying two sentences. 1. We treat all donations as equally based on ideology. 2. Eesti 200 does not accept illicit donations."
The Latvian prosecution in July of 2015 charged millionaire businessman Oleg Ossinovski with bribing then head of Latvian Railways Ugis Magonis €499,500. The prosecution sought a four-year prison term for both men.
Even though the Limbazi first circuit court found in January 2021 that Oleg Ossinovski did not bribe Magonis, the ruling has been appealed since.
Oleg Ossinovski's case has now landed in Riga District Arbitration Court, with a hearing scheduled for late March. Ossinovski is scheduled to attend via video conference.
Eesti 200 received a donation of €30,000 from Oleg Ossinovski during the last week of February, which followed a smaller €5,000 donation from mid-February.
In 2022, Ossinovski donated €10,000 to the party. The businessman also donated €5,000 to Eesti 200 in both 2020 and 2021.
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Editor: Marcus Turovski