Former defense investment chief says minister directed ammunition deals

Magnus-Valdemar Saar, the former head of Estonia’s State Defence Investment Centre, told the Riigikogu’s special committee on budgetary control that Defense Minister Hanno Pevkur played an active and decisive role in ammunition procurement, ERR reported.

Saar said Pevkur intervened in negotiations over contract terms, delivery schedules, advance payments and prices in at least one major case. He also said the minister negotiated directly with suppliers, urged expedited payments after contracts were signed and issued instructions during almost weekly discussions.

Saar and Pevkur were due to attend the committee’s meeting on Monday, but neither appeared. Saar said the European Public Prosecutor’s Office had launched an investigation and that he could not verify facts against documents, so he preferred to answer questions in writing.

In his eight-page statement, Saar said the final two transactions in the Datasel case were carried out under Pevkur’s personal direction. He said the minister had a specific interest in concluding the deals through the Greek company Nordeto and urged the State Defence Investment Centre to sign the contracts quickly, citing the short validity period of the offer.

According to Saar, the first deliveries under the contracts had already been reported late by that point. He said Nordeto was unknown to the State Defence Investment Centre and, to his knowledge, had no previous business connection with ammunition or defense-related goods.

“The offer had been sent privately to Defense Minister Pevkur. I am not aware of how the defense minister convinced himself of the partner’s reliability and capability,” Saar wrote. He said the State Defence Investment Centre did not sign a contract with the intermediary, but instead contracted Datasel, which he described as the business entity closest to the origin and ownership of the goods.

Asked whether Jaanus Rahumägi might have played a role, Saar said he had already left office and was not aware of the matters discussed. The question referred to reports that Pevkur had visited Greece in August 2025, spent time at Rahumägi’s villa and met the Greek defense minister.

Saar also said that, in late winter or early spring 2025, he had submitted a documented proposal to stop concluding such intermediary contracts and return funds not covered by contracts. He said Pevkur rejected the proposal and ordered procurement to continue.

Saar said the relevant decision-making meeting protocol was held by the Ministry of Defense and that he expected the committee would be able to review it in writing.