Estonian Parliament committee continues probe into defence finances

Estonia’s parliamentary special committee on budgetary control will continue examining financial management in the defence sector on Monday, ERR reported. The public hearing will focus on the activities of the State Defence Investment Centre and questions raised in an audit about intermediation agreements.

The hearing begins at 1 p.m. and will be available to watch on the ERR portal.

At last week’s discussion, the National Audit Office said the shortcomings identified in the defence sector were not merely accounting problems. They involved accounting for state assets, monitoring the fulfilment of contracts and financial management, it said.

The meeting also raised questions about the submission of documents to the National Audit Office, the risks taken through intermediation agreements and the supervision of those agreements.

Those invited to Monday’s hearing are Kadri Peeters, deputy secretary general for defence capabilities at the Ministry of Defence; Ines Metsalu-Nurminen, auditor general at the National Audit Office; Elmar Vaher, director general of the State Defence Investment Centre; deputy director general Asko Kivinuk; and Merle Vilu, head of the centre’s legal department.