The Local Government Organisation Act stipulates that if the chairman of a council, the deputy chairman of a council, the chairman of a council committee, the deputy chairman of a council committee, a member of the audit committee, a municipality or city mayor or a member of the government resigns, he or she shall submit an application to the municipality or city secretary, the Tallinn city government told BNS.

The person who submitted the application is deemed to have resigned effective the date indicated in the application. The municipality or city secretary shall immediately inform the chairman of the council or their deputy.

Sarapuu is scheduled to make an announcement to the media later on Thursday.

Officers of the Estonian Internal Security Service (ISS) on Thursday morning arrested Sarapuu as suspect in a criminal investigation into alleged irregularities in Tallinn's waste disposal business. The ISS and the Office of the Prosecutor General have since March 1 been handling a criminal case as part of which Sarapuu was now arrested under suspicion of knowingly violating procedural restrictions on a particularly large scale.

Sarapuu's son-in-law Margo Tomingas and Baltic Waste Management OÜ board chairman Kaido Laanjärv were also arrested in connection with the case.