Prosecutor general: «We do not plan our activities around elections»

We have heard little in terms of progress after the Prosecutor’s Office brought suspicions against Mihhail Korb, Hillar Teder and Kersti Kracht in the Porto Franco criminal case in January. When will the case reach court?

I cannot give you an exact date, while the criminal case file will land on the prosecution’s desk this summer, including the final set of suspicions. We will probably send the case to court this fall.

Some doubted it was a coincidence that the arrests and disclosure happened a mere day before the marriage referendum bill vote that mattered to the Conservative People’s Party (EKRE). The same issue will be raised this fall when the case will land in court in the middle of the local government council elections campaign period.

That is definitely not what we are aiming for. On the one hand, society expects us to work fast. On the other are politicians who do not like us bringing them out of their comfort zone and disrupting their policymaking with our independent variables. It’s a catch 22 where we should never be working. We do not plan our steps based on whether elections are near or not.

We will have two elections this fall. End of summer and fall. If we can prepare our materials and send them to court before local elections, that is precisely what we will do. We will not wait for the elections to be over. I would say, to encourage politicians and the public, that we are conducting pretrial proceedings in knowing that we will bring charges and that there are grounds to go to court.

It is a fact that the political debate will center around the case should it go to court during elections. Considering that this is a politically loaded process, couldn’t you deploy extra manpower to take it to court sooner? You have been processing the case for five months since the suspects were made known.

Five months is a very short time for a case of this magnitude. Secondly, it is not the only crime we are investigating. We cannot have the whole team investigating Porto Franco while shelving other crimes. And again, it is up to society to decide how much it wants to contribute to law enforcement. The money is all coming from the same place and is being used to do other good things.

Speaking of money, there will be even less of it in the future. Do you know where the prosecution will be cutting back?

The only thing we know today is that we don’t know anything for sure and nothing will happen before fall. We do not know if the prosecution will be expected to cut costs at all, nor by how much.

Could we see new suspects in the Porto Franco case or have new suspicions been brought against someone?

No, my information today suggests there will be no new suspects. Recent suspicions will stand.

Have suspicions been brought against businessman Jüri Põld who has interrogated by the Internal Security Service (ISS)?

I can neither confirm nor deny that.

Your predecessor Lavly Perling will be running for Isamaa leader next to Helir-Valdor Seeder this week. Are you rooting for the former prosecutor general?

I have no reason to wish harm to Perling. I also have no reason to wish harm to Seeder. It is an in-house affair of the Isamaa party.

You started as prosecutor general in early February 2020. You have said that hidden proceedings involving the then ruling Center Party that culminated in the resignation of Jüri Ratas’ government were already underway at the time. Was it Perling who brought you up to speed with the proceedings?

No, she did not present the case in person. It was discussed by investigating organs and employees of the Prosecutor’s Office.

However, was Perling aware of ongoing proceedings against the ruling party at the time?

She must have been aware. I cannot imagine it any other way.

Therefore, Lavly Perling went into politics while aware of highly compromising material regarding the then ruling party and knowing proceedings could lead to the government collapsing?

That is difficult for me to comment on. I would look at the bigger picture. What do we expect or want from someone who has held a public office, such as that of the prosecutor general? Should we have some sort of limitations for when their term ends? It is a matter of public debate. We have not given thought to how a former prosecutor general should live.

Perhaps there should be some kind of a buffer period during which they cannot pursue professional work but would be guaranteed an income?

It can be discussed. We are preparing changes in the prosecution and are currently debating whether the prosecutor general should only be allowed to serve for a single term that would be longer than five years. A normal top executive’s compensation package should follow. Considering that we cannot expect or demand the person stay away from certain activities.

The creators of the vabaks.ee web platform were recently taken into custody to the tune of a media frenzy. Why was such a demonstration of force necessary and why was it made public?

I cannot give you an answer in terms of there having been a media frenzy or show. The prosecution did not ask journalists to show up for an arrest.

They were arrested on suspicions of pursuing business activity without a license. The creators of Bolt also started without an activity permit, while they were not taken into custody. They are a major Estonian success story today. Could we draw any kind of parallels here?

As concerns the comparison with Bolt, what matters is the field of activity. The difference is that we are dealing with a financial services provider today, which is an extremely regulated field. The indication for criminal proceedings came from the Financial Supervision Authority.