Events started to unfold when an employee who no one had seen before and who did not have a door card attended the hospital's Christmas party last year. Officially, they were a kitchen assistant who had worked at the hospital for a year. Gert Reisner, head of catering for the hospital, said that the person's coworkers did not recognize them because they worked from home during the Covid period, Eesti Ekspress reported in May.

The hospital started looking into the matter and soon found that Reisner had entered into a fictitious employment contract with an acquaintance. The head of catering was fired late last year, after working at the hospital for 30 years, and the Tallinn's Children Hospital contacted the police.

The North District Prosecutor's Office has handed suspicions of fraud and group fraud to three people, including Reisner, assistant prosecutor Piia Enno told ERR.

There were allegedly three fictitious contracts, while one person whom the suspicions concern has since died.

Enno emphasized that the nature of suspicions could change in the course of the investigation, adding that there are no grounds for arresting Reisner at this time.

Reisner has said that the contract that led to his termination was not fictitious and that he does not consider himself to be guilty, his legal counsel Oliver Nääs told ERR.

Problems persist after Reisner fired

The hospital staff have said that Reisner has disrupted their work, also by filing multiple information requests, after his termination. There is also talk of stalking.

Legal counsel for the hospital Marko Kairjak told ERR that Reisner has visited the hospital after his termination.

"His behavior gives reason to suspect that he has showed up with the intent of talking to witnesses and swaying them," Kairjak said.

Piia Enno said that the prosecution is also looking into Reisner's conduct after his termination.

"This case has sparked a lot of negative emotions among those involved, which have also reached the public via the press. That is why one of the aims of the ongoing investigation is to separate the facts from emotional assessments, and based on which we can determine whether the suspects have committed fraud."

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