Donations platform founder still repaying money meant for Ukraine
Donation platform toeta.me founder Henri Laupmaa still needs to pay back €36,000 of the €225,00 collected to buy drones for Ukraine after Russia launched its full-scale war in 2022.
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 organizers have been trying to get the money back for more than a year, but Laupmaa has paid out the money irregularly and in several installments.
In June, Laupmaa returned €45,000 to the drone manufacturers, after which €36,000 remained unpaid. He was supposed to return the funds in full by October 2023.
However, according to Roy Strider, one of the organizers of the campaign, Laupmaa has not paid out any money since June.
"There have been no developments or moves by Laupmaa in the meantime, despite the promises made," he said.
Strider said Laupmaa had wanted to meet with the drone manufacturers to "discuss something, agree on further action."
"But as far as I'm concerned, we have nothing to discuss with him – let him pay the debt, accept the punishment and do no more evil," said Strider.
Laupmaa did not respond to ERR's request.
The Northern District Prosecutor's Office started criminal proceedings in mid-September to verify information according to which the amount collected during the charity project on the online donation platform toeta.me has allegedly been illegally embezzled.
The Prosecutor's Office said criminal proceedings were launched against Laupmaa last year and are currently in the pre-trial investigation stage. Due to this, little information can be released.
"At the same time, we can confirm that the content of the suspicion against H. Laupmaa and the NGO he belonged to has not changed during the proceedings. The ongoing investigation is also in the process of clarifying the procedural decision to be taken by the public prosecutor's office with regard to the dissolved NGO," added the prosecutor's office.
In April, 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.
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Editor: Valner Väino, Helen Wright
