Aivar Sepp, head of the Central Criminal Police's Anti-Corruption Bureau, said: "The Central Criminal Police has taken from Kalle Laanet a statement, and he has been charged with fraudulent conduct."

Sepp stressed that filing of charges is a procedural step needed to protect the rights of the individual charged, and should not be taken as or equated to a formal indictment.

The next stage is the case file being forwarded to the prosecutor's office, once the pre-trial investigation by the Central Criminal Police is complete – a stage which is nearly here, Sepp said.

On March 16 this year investigative weekly Eesti Ekspress reported that Laanet had had rental costs on a Tallinn apartment reimbursed by the state.

While this is standard practice for ministers whose place of residence is outside Tallinn, since the apartment was owned by his step-son, this led to claims of a conflict of interest.

The arrangement had been in place both when Laanet was defense minister, in the Reform-Center administration, and justice minister, in the first Reform-SDE-Eesti 200 coalition.

Laanet resigned as minister later on March 16 following publication of the piece.

The state covered more than €12,000 in rental expenses for Laanet during his two terms as a government minister.

--

Follow ERR News on Facebook and Twitter and never miss an update!