The first-tier Harju County Court on Monday acquitted former senior police officials Eerik Heldna, Elmar Vaher, and Aivar Alavere of all fraud charges in relation to job rotation and pension rights.

The entire process took two years, while after the verdict, Heldna and Alavere said that both their personal reputations had suffered, as well as that of the Estonian state.

Ain Seppik, who served as police director in the 1990s followed by a stint as Minister of the Interior in 2002 and 2003, told ERR that he understands the disappointment of former police officials' disillusionment.

He said: "Naturally their careers and previously successful service in law enforcement have now been damaged significantly. And without a doubt, Estonia's reputation has also suffered. Unfortunately, this is not the only one of such cases lately. The prosecutor's office brings charges rather lightly."
Seppik himself had criminal proceedings initiated against him but which the prosecutor's office closed last summer.

Andres Anvelt, who served as Social Democratic Party Minister of the Interior from 2015-2018, told ERR that his position has been clear from the outset: Issues relating to public service pensions and rotations should be resolved via administrative, not criminal, procedures.

Anvelt said: "These are all administrative law issues, so when disputes arise in such areas, there are administrative procedures and administrative courts to resolve them. Criminal proceedings in a dispute like this have definitely been excessive; they have been too much, and they have certainly not had a positive impact on Estonia's image abroad, since from the outside it gives the impression that some major corruption scandal has taken place."

Seppik agreed that the case could have been resolved without the need for criminal proceedings.

He said: "I see the main blame as lying with the [Interior] Ministry. Because as is evident from public records, this was discussed at the ministry level, and the issues should have been resolved there, if they were considered problematic. But since no one wanted to resolve them, we've ended up where we are now, and in my opinion, this is highly regrettable."

Raivo Aeg, who was director of the Internal Security Service (ISS) from 2008 to 2013 and as Isamaa's Minister of Justice from 2019-2021, also said that the matter should have been resolved in another way.

Aeg said: "Looking at it from the outside – should this really have gone that far? The fact that high-ranking police officials and their decisions came under scrutiny, that should have happened at the agency and ministry level."

Aeg added that he would be more satisfied if the prosecutor's office decided not to proceed further from now, meaning the county court's decision would not be appealed at the second-tier circuit court.

"As far as I've been following this via the media, the prosecutor was not particularly satisfied with the decision, but I would be satisfied if the prosecutor's office did not take this to the circuit court for another round. These people have been dragged through the mill enough, and their reputations have already been [damaged]," Aeg said.

Another former minister and former police chief, Kristian Jaani, gave a brief comment, that the legal system in Estonia works.

"One thing is certain – I have full trust in our judicial system," Jaani, interior minister with the Center Party from January 2021 to June 2022, and now director of the Police and Border Guard Board's (PPA) college, said.

Anvelt: it's sad that the matter became personal at some point

The pre-trial investigation was carried out by the ISS, known in Estonia by the acronym Kapo, and in March 2023 the agency brought the suspicions against Heldna and Vaher. The ISS' interest in Heldna in particular drew attention throughout the proceedings.

During the course of the hearing, Alavere described in detail how former ISS director Arnold Sinisalu had persistently pressured him on Heldna, to the extent that this negatively impacted his sense of self-respect, Alavere said in court.

Anvelt was interior minister in 2017, when Sinisalu had dismissed Heldna from his post as ISS deputy director. That Kapo has demonstrated such an interest in Heldna's fate definitely has its undercurrents, Anvelt said.

He said: "Yes, Heldna's departure from the ISS at the time wasn't entirely ordinary. I was Minister of the Interior then, and there are many nuances I certainly must not talk about, and do not want to. But even those nuances should be one part of the matter, but the resolution of the issue that ended up in court is purely administrative. I'm most saddened that things got personal along the way. But even if there are some personal relations behind this, the prosecution must still assess whether they are competent to resolve such a case via criminal proceedings, or should refrain from intervening in such a process."

Seppik said that the ISS can indeed initiate a criminal proceeding, but not without the prosecutor's consent. "The prosecution had to be involved from the very start, to give their approval and facilitate it — that much is absolutely clear," he said.

Seppik added that it is hard for him to comment on the relationships between those individuals, though during his time in police service, interpersonal relations were handled differently, he said.

"Things as drastic as what has happened now simply didn't take place," he stated.

Aeg agreed that to the outside observer, the entire process may have seemed like old scores were being settled.

"Supposedly, that wasn't the case, but I can't say why the process was pursued so intensely — whether all other options were truly exhausted, as it were. But since I was no longer working in that institution during Arnold Sinisalu's time as ISS director, I can't comment on who got along with who and how those relationships played out," Aeg said.

It was Aeg who brought Heldna in as his deputy while serving as ISS director. He noted that work-related disputes always arose. "But the idea that there would have been any justification to start a criminal investigation there — it was a long way from that," he said.

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