Prosecutors close Narva council leaders’ criminal case

Estonian prosecutors have closed criminal proceedings concerning payments made to former Narva City Council Chairman Mihhail Stalnuhhin and Deputy Chairman Jana Kondrašova, ERR reported. The case was terminated because investigators found no signs of a crime.

“The evidence collected does not allow us to conclude that anyone acted with the aim of misappropriating public funds or maliciously received payment for participating in the work of the city council,” prosecutor Kristina Meus said.

The proceedings began on May 4 after a criminal complaint raised concerns about possible violations related to the payments. Investigators examined whether the circumstances could indicate embezzlement by a public official.

The investigation found that Narva City Council adopted a regulation in 2007 intended to prevent its chair or deputy chair from receiving both a salary and the compensation paid to council members for participating in council work.

In 2013, the regulation was amended and the word “salaried” was removed. The wording currently states that council members are paid for participating in council work, except for the chair and deputy chair. This no longer reflected the regulation’s original purpose, prosecutors said.

In practice, payments continued according to the earlier approach: the chair and deputy chair received compensation for participating in council work if they were not paid a salary for their positions. However, this practice was not fully consistent with the wording in force after 2013, which did not provide for such payments to the chair or deputy chair.

Meus said local government legislation should be reviewed and clarified where necessary to prevent similar disputes in the future.