Tartu Deputy Mayor Priit Humal resigns
Tartu Deputy Mayor Priit Humal has tendered his resignation from June 1 in the wake of being handed suspicions of a procedural restrictions violation by the Internal Security Service.
"I will be resigning as deputy mayor to ensure transparency and peace in the Tartu City Government. The suspicions against me are unfounded," Humal said.
Tartu Mayor Urmas Klaas said that work at the city government will continue based on the city's substitutions procedure until a new deputy mayor is found.
"I will propose to the council appointing a new deputy mayor. We are working toward approving a candidate as soon as possible," Klaas said.
Deputy Mayor Raimond Tamm will stand in for Humal as deputy mayor in charge of finance and municipal assets.
The Internal Security Service (ISS) suspects Tartu Deputy Mayor Priit Humal of violating procedural restrictions on a grand scale and businessman Parvel Pruunsild of aiding and abetting.
The investigation concerns the sale of a former exhibitions hall of the Estonian National Museum (ERM) to the Sakala fraternity (NGO Korp! Sakala) of which Humal's fellow Isamaa member Parvel Pruunsild is a member.
According to the suspicions, Pruunsild put pressure on Humal to convince the city to give up its pre-emptive purchase right on the property at Kuperjanovi 9 to benefit Sakala that recently acquired the building from state real estate manager RKAS for €1.2 million.
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Editor: Marcus Turovski
