During a Tallinn City Council session on Thursday, the new audit committee chair and deputy chairs were confirmed.

Manuela Pihlap (Center) was elected chair, while Toomas Kruusimägi was chosen as her deputy.

Kruusimägi, pictured, is, however, long-time director of prestigious high school Tallinn English College (Tallinna Inglise Kolledž), and in his resignation explained that he had been unaware prior his election that a member of the audit committee cannot simultaneously be the head of a city-managed institution – which Tallinn English College is.

"This was simple human error. I have previously been a member of a council committee and never doubted that it could be different for audit committee," he said.

"Doubt arose when the council chair read out the conditions for being a member of the audit committee, under the term of the Local Government Organization Act (known in Estonian by the acronym KOKS – ed.), stating who can and cannot be a member," Kruusimägi added.

"The process moved forward quickly, but those doubts emerged. As soon as I checked the paragraph to ensure I had heard things correctly, I immediately withdrew candidacy from the audit committee. I am a school director, and there is a conflict there," he went on.

Kruusimägi is also the Reform Party's candidate for the position of Tallinn City Council chair, ie. the council leader.

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