Centre Party and prosecutor office on brink of Savisaar case settlement
The prosecutor's office are prepared for a settlement with the Centre Party on the Edgar Savisaar case, ERR's online news in Estonian reports, though it is being held up on the issue of the trial and stripping of parliamentary immunity of a co-defendant in the case.
Edgar Savisaar, a co-founder of Centre and a former Tallinn mayor, had been involved in an on-off corruption case through 2017-2018, at all three tiers in the Estonian court system. Hearings were often suspended due to Savisaar's health issues, and the decision to halt the case against him at the lowest (County Court) tier in the Estonian legal system, was upheld by the Supreme Court.
According to business daily Äripäev, the prosecutor's office filed an application for the settlement procedure on May 23, but the consent of Centre's Kalev Kallo, deprived of parliamentary immunity at the request of Chancellor of Justice Ülle Madise, which was backed by the Riigikogu in May, is required for its implementation.
Kallo was one of several co-acused in the Savisaar case, charged with both accepting and granting bribes.
Secretary-General of the Centre Party, Mikhail Korb, along with Kaarel Kallas, spokesman for the prosecutor's office, have confirmed that the content of the agreement is in place, but its details are not known.
According to Äripäev, Centre is to be hit with a €25,000 fine.
Editor: Andrew Whyte
