Centre contests circuit court ruling over paying back illicit donations
The Supervisory Committee on Party Financing (ERJK) wants the Centre Party to pay altogether €110,100 to the state, which it tried to enforce with an injunction in 2017. The party is now entering its third round trying to fend off the watchdog's claim.
According to the committee's injunction, Centre would have to contribute €110,100 to the state budget in compensation for illicit political donations it received in the era of chairman Edgar Savisaar.
Savisaar himself was on trial for years for embezzlement, graft and having accepted those donations. The trial was eventually given up in late 2018 due to the former party chairman's ailing health.
The Centre Party contested the injunction of the ERJK as early as February 2017, but was rejected in December the same year by the Tallinn Administrative Court.
The party took the matter to the next-higher tier, namely the Tallinn Circuit Court, which has now rejected it as well. Centre has already appealed the decision, to be taken up again by the court on 6 March.
Editor: Dario Cavegn
