The court has handed Reps a prison term of one year and five months, in suspended sentence, together with a two-year probationary period.

The court found Reps guilty of embezzlement and fraud and imposed a cumulative sentence for all offenses of one year and five months of imprisonment, and opted to suspend the sentence on the condition that she does not commit any intentional crime during the two-year probation period.

The court cleared Reps of a civil claim for €120,000.

The probationary period is effective immediate from the announcement of the court ruling, September 27, 2024.

The court said: "Mailis Reps was charged with embezzlement, committed by an official."

"According to the indictment, Reps used ministry funds to cover personal expenses which were unrelated to ministry work. These included childcare (for instance transport, babysitting, assistance), transporting herself and others, the purchase of goods, and covering delivery costs," the court went on in Friday's ruling.

Additionally the indictment alleged that Reps had used a fuel card for personal use issued by the Ministry of Education and Research, and had the ministry cover catering expenses for a private birthday party, held at the ministry's premises.

She allegedly also used ministry funds to pay for her child's travel expenses, for a coffee machine, for costs associated with her birthday celebrations at the Mon Repos restaurant, and on expenses related to attending WRC Rally Estonia.

The court found most of the charges to be proven.

The court ruled that as a minister, Reps had no right to cover personal expenses from the ministry's budget.

The most disputed charges involved expenses relating to her children.

The court added: "During the course of the trial, an attempt had been made to create the impression that traveling with a small child on business trips served as campaigning, but the court believes this was an abuse of the goodwill of ministry employees, and resulted in additional costs for the ministry; in other words, the defendant used ministry employees' work time, and ministry funds, to resolve her personal family matters."

Reps' defense argued that it was legal for her driver and advisors to handle tasks related to her children, since such duties were part of their job responsibilities. However, the court found this interpretation to be unconvincing and arbitrary.

"Understandably the minister's work is important to the state of Estonia, and their workdays can be long and stressful, but this does not mean any obligation on the part of the state to provide support personnel for a minister's family or to cover these expenses from the ministry's budget or from employees' work hours," the court added.

The court decided to dismiss the embezzlement charges relating to the use of the ministry's fuel card, ruling that this was a misdemeanor offense and not a crime.

Mailis Reps must pay €1,230 to the state in part legal costs for being convicted of a second-degree crime, and must partly cover the legal fees incurred by the Ministry of Education and Research, amounting to €3,877.30.

The court partly upheld the ministry's civil claim, ordering Reps to pay €6,070 plus related interest.

The court dismissed the remaining civil claim from the ministry totaling €112,749.77.

The court found it not possible to determine the exact amount of costs incurred over three and a half years in respect of the personal use of ministry employees, and estimated calculations did not permit the actual damage amount to be determined.

Additionally, the defendant had already reimbursed some expenses to the ministry.

The court also deemed it unjustified to demand reimbursement for costs relating to the official ministry vehicle, as these were not addressed in the charge sheet.

The Harju County Court decision has not yet entered into force.

Mailis Reps was not present in the courtroom when the verdict was read.

Reps' defense counsel, Paul Keres, stated that a decision would be made within a week whether to appeal the court's decision.

Mailis Reps was education minister 2016-2020, as well as serving two other stints in the role in the 2000s.

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