Donations portal manager repays another €45,000 in funds meant for Ukraine

Organizer of the toeta.me portal Henri Laupaa has returned the bulk of the €225,000 amassed from the fund but which did not make it to its intended destination – to purchase drones for Ukraine – having recently repaid an installment of €45,000.
In total, donors contributed nearly €225,000 via the toeta.me donation platform to a campaign which sends drones to Ukraine.
However, Laupmaa (pictured) did not distribute the funds to the campaign organizers in the manner which had been agreed on.
According to this agreement he was supposed to have transferred the funds in their entirety, by October 23 of last year.
Since then, he has been paying back the funds, but in installments.
Campaign chief Roy Strider told ERR that Laupmaa paid an additional €45,000 back on Tuesday, which leaves €36,000 still to return.
In April, ERR News reported that the legal entity behind toeta.me, Infograafika ja Ergonoomika Instituudi MTÜ, had been struck off the register, due to a failure to submit an annual financial report.
The €45,000 paid on Tuesday derived from a company called Micronet, a limited company owned by Laupmaa.
In September 2023, the Northern District Prosecutor's Office initiated a criminal investigation to verify information which indicated that the funds collected via the online donation platform toeta.me were allegedly misappropriated.
The campaign raised funds to purchase just over 20 drones equipped with anti-GPS jamming devices and made by Threod Systems, an Estonian firm.
The GPS devices can extend a drone's frontline lifespan by aiding the evasion of Russian electronic counter-warfare measures.
In addition to Strider, an activist, musician and writer, Riigikogu MPs Eerik-Niiles Kross (Reform) and Juku-Kalle Raid (Eesti 200) headed up the drone drive.
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Editor: Andrew Whyte, Valner Väino