Estonian court rules against secret service, prosecutor in landmark data case
A data protection court case went against the Internal Security Service (ISS) and the Prosecutor's Office and in favor of two businesspeople, Postimees reported.
Data from Janek and Kristi Veeber, who Postimees wrote are one of Estonia's richest couples, had been obtained during a criminal investigation which also involved former Tartu Deputy Mayor Valvo Semilarski.
However, this data, which included personal information and confidential banking information, was unlawfully transferred to the Tax and Customs Board (MTA), the court ruled.
The investigation in turn led to a tax claim exceeding half a million euros being taken against the Veebers' company, AS Giga, in 2021.
Last Friday, the first-tier Tartu Administrative Court ruled that the ISS and Prosecutor's Office had acted unlawfully in allowing the MTA to access the data, though the court refrained from evaluating the MTA's conduct and rejected the Veebers' claims for non-pecuniary damages against all three state institutions.
The ruling has yet to enter into force.
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Editor: Andrew Whyte
