Free Party official files criminal complaint against Pro Patria chair
Secretary-general of the Free Party, Vahur Kollom, has apparently submitted a criminal complaint to the Office of the Prosecutor General the subject of which is Pro Patria chairman Helir-Valdor Seeder.
Mr Kollom's complaint dates back to Mr Seeder's stint as minister of agriculture in the third cabinet of Prime Minister Andrus Ansip (Reform) from 2011 to 2014.
In detail, Mr Kollom is accusing Mr Seeder of having allocated substantial sums of money out of his ministry's budget to a non-profit he was in charge of at the time.
According to the accusations, Mr Seeder signed orders that allocated tens of thousands of euros to sports association Jõud. A cooperation agreement signed in Mr Seeder's time at the ministry in 2011 led to the following payments while he was minister:
- €67,108 in 2011
- €65,231 in 2012
- €65,000 in 2013
- €65,000 in 2014
Mr Seeder became chairman of the sports association in October 2011, a few months after he became minister of agriculture. Mr Seeder commented the accusations to ERR's Estonian-language news on Thursday, calling them "absurd" and saying that the Free Party is apparently desperate for attention just weeks ahead of the general election.
Meanwhile the Office of the Prosecutor General is looking into the complaint, which according to Mr Kollom is motivated by Seeder's having violated the limitations imposed on a minister's activities as set out in the law.
Editor: Dario Cavegn