In a recent appearance on ETV's "Esimene stuudio," Alamäe discussed why he decided to leave the party he co-founded and distance himself from politics.

"I mentioned it in the press release too – conspiracy theories," he confirmed when asked why he decided to leave politics.

"One of the most widely circulated conspiracy theories is that Alamäe is pursuing some kind of mystical government contract related to the personal state, and that to achieve this, he published some kind of article about it ten years ago, then founded a party six years ago – that it's all been a longer-term project," Alamäe said.

He noted that Nortal has been the Estonian state's largest partner in developing the digital state for the past 20 years.

"When some journalist then publishes such a conspiracy theory... We do business with the public sector in the U.K., with Germany, Canada, Finland," the Nortal CEO highlighted. "And a smear piece like this immediately spreads all over the media. In today's Google environment, anyone doing a background check on their future [business] partner will find some sort of article like that. They don't know that it's complete nonsense; they read the article, and a seed of doubt gets planted. As old Baskin once said, 'There's no hesitation, but there are doubts.' In a situation like this, it just starts to hurt."

He noted that while such stories can be weathered in Estonia, most of his business is abroad, and partners have been asking him about these issues.

"My primary responsibility is to my employees, clients and co-shareholders," Alamäe said. "That is why I made this difficult and awful decision."

He denied that Eesi 200's recent party rating is what prompted his decision to quit the party, noting that he told party chair Kristina Kallas about his plan to leave three weeks ago.

The host asked if he denies the claim that he founded Eesti 200 in order to get even richer.

"My involvement in Eesti 200 has had a very negative impact on my financial status, not the other way around," Alamäe replied. "I'm not talking about supporting the party here, but about the time spent on figuring out why this party is needed, helping write the first platforms – all of that. That's time I easily could have spent on business."

He questioned why businesspeople today should be inspired to be actively involved in social and civic engagement for altruistic reasons.

"As soon as you stick your head out and start defining yourself politically, now you've got a target on your forehead," he said.

Alamäe explained that if a businessperson comes up with an idea under the party's banner, the initial reaction is to shoot it down, because it might boost the popularity of the other political side.

The host asked whether the final straw had been the article published by Eesti Ekspress (link in Estonian) last week, which claimed that Alamäe supports the personal state project because it would bring in "piles of sweet dough" to his IT company by way of contracts.

"I have to admit, that didn't lighten the load," he replied. "The funniest thing is that whoever wrote it didn't even dare sign their name under it."

Alamäe said that all of this serves to reduce overall trust in society, and that developed societies are based on trust.

"There's a presumption of innocence in business, in the legal system," he acknowledged. "If you start undermining that trust, then that society will end up divided and become increasingly vulnerable to external attacks."

According to the one-time party founder, Estonia is in a conflicting situation. "On one hand, people say we need fresh faces, experts, people who have accomplished something somewhere other than in politics," he said. "But as soon as these people really start getting active, they're torn to shreds for the most part."

The "Esimene stuudio" host asked why Alamäe hadn't left business and go fully into politics.

"I'm a businessperson at heart," he replied.

The Nortal chief also emphasized that Estonia is known globally as a digital nation, and that this shouldn't be put on pause.

"We're a very small country; we can only have one thing that we're truly known for," he said.

He argued that if the personal state doesn't come to fruition, Estonia will end up missing out on the next leap in development. "Our people will miss out on being offered better services by the state," he added.

Asked whether cybersecurity issues shouldn't be addressed first, Alamäe said that Estonia has handled cyber threats very well, acknowledging that cybersecurity can't be fixed rapidly and is instead an ongoing battle against external threats.

In terms of planned taxes, Alamäe favors the income tax.

"Choosing between the plague and cholera," he commented. "But if it really needs to be done – and I believe there are actually other ways it could be done – then the most reasonable way is through the income tax. But it has to be clearly temporary."

Asked if he would ever return to politics, Alamäe replied, "I'd have to be very old for that."

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