Kovalenko-Kõlvart says defence ministry knew Datasel contract risks

Estonia’s Ministry of Defence knew about the risks linked to contracts with Datasel, Anastassia Kovalenko-Kõlvart told ERR. The chair of the Riigikogu’s anti-corruption special committee said the ministry had been warned in summer 2024 that problems with the contracts could create a risk for the state budget.

The committee examined documents on Wednesday concerning the preparation, approval and implementation of contracts signed between Datasel and the State Defence Investment Centre.

“This risk was communicated to the Ministry of Defence, but despite that, we see that Parliament was never told about it,” Kovalenko-Kõlvart said. She added that the state budget instead recorded for three consecutive years that no risks would be taken.

Kovalenko-Kõlvart said documents showed that decision-making meetings had included specific tables detailing the contracts and their risks, contrary to claims by former officials that there had been no separate contracts under discussion. Possible delivery problems and different scenarios for moving forward had also been outlined.

However, decisions signed by Defence Minister Hanno Pevkur stated that the risks were acknowledged and the process would continue in the same way, she said. No decision was made after the meeting to terminate the contracts or seek alternative means, Kovalenko-Kõlvart added.

Saar sought control over decisions

Kovalenko-Kõlvart said former State Defence Investment Centre director Magnus-Valdemar Saar had proposed that decision-making be placed solely in his hands. In her assessment, this increased the risk of corruption, but the decision-making meeting did not prevent authority from being concentrated in one person.

“After that decision-making meeting, new contracts were signed with Datasel, even though the delivery deadlines had passed and nothing had been delivered,” Kovalenko-Kõlvart said.

Correspondence was missing

The committee also wanted to see correspondence about how Datasel’s contact details had been obtained through an intermediary. The State Defence Investment Centre did not have the correspondence, but promised to look for it, Kovalenko-Kõlvart said.

The centre also did not have a Signal chat involving the minister, the chancellor and officials from the centre.

While the Internal Security Service and the Foreign Intelligence Service had been consulted about other contracts and partners, this was not done in the case of Datasel, Kovalenko-Kõlvart said. The only background check shown to the committee was a visit documented in a short memo. No substantive background check had been carried out on the company, and no documents on one existed, she said.