At a meeting of the committee on Monday, Toomas Sildam, internal adviser to President Alar Karis, admitted that he had also spoken to Gerrit Mäesalu, head of the prime minister's office, about the financing of the president's office and the processing of government-initiated draft bills. However, according to Sildam, the two issues were not connected during the conversation.

Urmas Reinsalu (Isamaa), chair of the select committee, told ERR, that in the next meeting of the committee further clarifications would be sought from Mäesalu regarding the content of his conversation with Sildam. The date of the committee's next meeting is yet to be confirmed, though is likely to take place next week.

ERR also attempted to reach Mäesalu for comment, however, the head of the prime minister's office was unavailable.

Reinsalu said, that just as he had been expecting Prime Minister Kaja Kallas to appear at Monday's committee meeting, he also expects her to attend the next one.

"Kaja Kallas sent Minister of Finance Mart Võrklaev (Reform) to today's (Monday's) meeting to represent her, but he was unable to answer a lot of questions. This is understandable, as these questions concerned the prime minister personally. Therefore, the participation of the prime minister in the committee meeting is definitely necessary," Reinsalu said.

Reinsalu added that he is awaiting further clarification from Kallas regarding what she meant when he told ERR earlier, that while in the past it may have been normal to barter over the promulgation of laws, however it is now no longer acceptable.

--

Follow ERR News on Facebook and Twitter and never miss an update!