The circuit court previously sentenced Hillar Teder to one year and five months and Mihhail Korb to one year and two months suspended imprisonment.  The Center Party was fined 750,000. The court then increased the punishment for the new offense by €250,000 – the amount still outstanding from a previous pecuniary punishment to which the party was sentenced by Harju County Court on September 5, 2019 – bringing the Center Party's aggregate punishment to a total of €1 million.

On Friday, the Supreme Court upheld that judgment.

Speaking at a press conference later on Friday, Kõlvart, along with party vice-chair Lauri Laats and secretary general Anneli Otti, said the party had been prepared for the Supreme Court's decision and has a financial plan and a plan of action in place for its future activities.

"Yes, we had hoped that there would be a different decision. I am not going to give a legal assessment of the Supreme Court's decision. On an emotional level, I can say that the decision was unfair for us," Kõlvart said.

"But as a lawyer and as an athlete, I say there is nothing to argue about. As a human being, I have a lot of questions. But I accept the judgement, the judgement has to be respected," Kõlvart added.

According to Kõlvart, the Center Party spent a lot of time preparing for Friday's ruling, has cut its fixed costs and has no debts.

"Now we have a financial plan and a plan of action. We know how we will get out of this situation and we know how we will win the elections," Kõlvart said.

"It's going to be difficult, it's going to affect our activities, but not our political activities. Politically we are as active or more active [than before]," he added.

"Of course, we are asking to be given a payment schedule longer than a month. We hope that this will be granted and that it will be sufficient," Kõlvart said, adding that he did not see any threat of bankruptcy for the party.

Asked whether the decision could also have the effect of discouraging further political cooperation with Kõlvart as an individual, and therefore mean the Center Party could be excluded from power as a result, he responded that the question was rather if the Center Party would include anyone in their next coalition.

"If we are discussing today that the verdict is a legal verdict and the final one, then we also have to proceed from the theory of legality, which states that there are people who were convicted and a legal person who was convicted, and I am not among them," Kõlvart said.

According to Kõlvart, already on Friday, a significant amount of donations had been received into the party's account. He noted that members of the party's executive board are prepared to take responsibility for their own assets if necessary.

"For the time being, we are not going to sell our own assets and hopefully there will be no need to do that. But we will take it into account, we are ready for it and we will not run away. The members of the executive board also donated to the party quite substantially today," said Kõlvart.

Kõlvart stressed that the members of the party's executive board at the time when the party was led by Jüri Ratas, should also be responsible for their own assets. "From a legal point of view, they have the same responsibility as we do," he said. According to Kõlvart, the party is analyzing whether and how to file a financial claim against Ratas.

According to Kõlvart, Mihhail Korb, the then general secretary of the party, who was convicted of a criminal offence, is still a member of the party and there are no plans to expel him. "We are with Korb. It wouldn't be fair if we threw him out. For the party to say to one of its members that you are now more to blame, I will not say that. It's about my moral judgement. I will not make a suggestion of that kind," said Kõlvart.

Kõlvart said that the Center Party definitely does not want to deal with Hillar Teder anymore.

"How is it possible that the former leadership of the party decided anything could be negotiated with Teder? We will certainly not try that again," Kõlvart said.

"The Center Party of today is not the Center Party of a year ago. Corruption for us, I would name it differently... If your goal is personal interest, a position, big salary, or money that you can arrange for yourself from the coffers of the people of the city, then your place is not in politics," Kõlvart said.

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