Parmas: No reason for prosecution to complain about Port of Tallinn outcome

The Port of Tallinn case, which was acquitted due to the statute of limitations, shows the Riigikogu has not done its job properly regarding Estonian lawmaking, said Prosecutor General Andres Parmas. The prosecution did not make mistakes in this case, he said.
When asked who is responsible for the outcome of the court case, Parmas did not think that only one body should have to take responsibility.
"The Office of the Public Prosecutor has for a long time been indicating the problems with white-collar crime: the judicial process is too slow, the statute of limitations is too short. This is an area that is not systematic – and that is why we are in this situation," he said.
To a large extent, this is about bad legislation, Parmas said.
"The Riigikogu, which thinks that this is a huge failure, they have not done their job properly, they have not been prepared to debate and make the necessary changes to the law. I do not think anybody should have the finger pointed at them – this is the result of things not done systematically over a long period of time," he told ERR on Friday.
"Also, the fact that, for some reason, bribery in the private sector is judged to be a much lighter crime than bribery in the exercise of public authority, and that we have inappropriate statute of limitations regulations for white-collar crime – that is what leads us to these results," explained Parmas.
When asked why the Prosecuter's Office is largely getting the blame, he said this is a question for social psychologists. "Why has the Prosecutor's Office been chosen as the whipping boy, and not only in this case, but also in other cases where, objectively speaking, there has been no reason to reproach the prosecutor's office," he said.
"The Office of the Public Prosecutor is an organization created to serve the Estonian state and people. If the Prosecutor's Office is not up to its tasks, if it makes fundamental mistakes or if it does not know what it is doing, there is of course a reason to ask the Prosecutor's Office these questions. In the present case, I do not think there is any reason to do so," Parmas said.
He said the Prosecutor's Office is still studying the outcomes of the case. Afterward, it will decide whether and to what extent to challenge the ruling.
Harju County Court on Thursday acquitted all of the accused in the trial of the Port of Tallinn and found the case to have expired. The court found that, unlike what the prosecution claimed in the charges, Port of Tallinn board members were not acting in the capacity of officials.
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Editor: Helen Wright