The Office of the Prosecutor General charged Heldna, Vaher and Alavere with fraud and aiding and abetting fraud.

Heldna was charged with fraud and incitement to the counterfeiting or falsification of documents by an official.

Vaher, the ex-director general of the Police and Border Guard Board (PPA), was charged with, in his capacity as an official, aiding fraud and the counterfeiting or falsification of documents by an official.

Alavere was charged with, in his capacity as an official, aiding fraud and aiding the counterfeiting or falsification of documents by an official.

"The accusation is that Eerik Heldna, with the assistance of Elmar Vaher and Aivar Alavere, created the false impression with the Social Insurance Board (SKA) that he had accumulated 25 years of police service as of May 5, 2022, based on which the SKA began paying him a pension pursuant to the Superannuated Pensions Act," the Prosecutor's Office announced at the beginning of last year.

According to the charges, in February 2019, Eerik Heldna agreed with Elmar Vaher that he would be formally assigned to the PPA and transferred that same day on rotation to the Military Intelligence Center of the Estonian Defense Forces (EDF), where he had in fact been working for a year already.

According to the charges, Vaher and Alavere also agreed to assign him to a position in the Central Criminal Police's secret witness protection unit.

According to the charges, orders were issued that same day, ostensibly appointing Heldna to the PPA and rotating him back to his previous position.

The charges also assert that Heldna, Vaher and Alavere were all aware that Heldna did not intend to perform any duties within the PPA, and that the ostensible assignment to service was arranged to ensure that Heldna, working in another institution, would still qualify to receive a so-called police pension in the future.

The prosecution found that when filing a pension application with the SKA using documents which, among other things, falsely reflected Heldna's service record, Heldna, with Vaher and Alavere's help, committed fraud.

Keyword 'or'

The court concluded that according to section 33, subsection 1 of the Civil Service Act, the purpose of a rotation could be to increase the competence and motivation of the official or to promote cooperation between public authorities.

It found that as the law as written uses the word "or" in the aforementioned list, it does not require the simultaneous fulfillment of all conditions, and the goal of a rotation is fulfilled even if it only serves to increase the official's competence and motivation. According to the text of the law, the promotion of cooperation between public authorities is not a mandatory prerequisite for rotation.

Therefore, the mere fact that the purpose of Heldna's rotation was to increase his own competence and motivation as an official means that the conditions of the law for rotation were met, and the court found that the conditions of the Civil Service Act were not violated.

The court concluded that the criminal case did not investigate any evidence that would confirm that Heldna's personal competence and motivation were not increased during the disputed rotations.

It was obvious to the court that, by working at the Military Intelligence Center of the EDF and the Estonian Tax and Customs Board (MTA), Heldna gained new knowledge and experience, thereby enhancing his professional competence, a court spokesperson said.

The fact that Heldna did not immediately start performing duties at the PPA in April 2019 does not mean that he had no intention of fulfilling such duties there in the future. The mere fact that Heldna did not have to begin performing duties immediately, but could instead do so after the completion of his rotation, does not mean that the relevant order was falsified, the court concluded.

Some compensation claims granted

The court awarded legal costs in the amount of €14,178 to Aivar Alavere, €23,307 to Eerik Heldna and €19,839 to Elmar Vaher.

Alavere, Vaher and Heldna's defense attorneys filed requests for compensation for the damage caused by the criminal proceedings. Requests for compensation for material and non-material damage were submitted on behalf of Heldna and Vaher, and a request for non-material damage compensation was submitted on Alavere's behalf. The court concluded that no violations of procedural rights occurred in this criminal case, and thus rejected Alavere's request for non-material damage compensation.

Since Vaher was deprived of his liberty for one workday, he is entitled to compensation for one day in the amount of €65.30. The remaining requests for non-material damage compensation were rejected by the court.

The court awarded Heldna compensation for the net salary he missed due to his removal from the PPA and the suspension of his right to exercise public authority from May 8, 2023 through May 7, 2024, at a rate of 40 percent of his salary, amounting to €9,314.80. He is likewise entitled to compensation for non-material damage caused by his lawful detention as a suspect, totaling €130.60.

The first-tier court's decision has not yet entered into force and may be appealed to Tallinn Circuit Court within 30 days.

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