Supreme Court leaves Kalle Laanet acquittal in force

Kalle Laanet’s acquittal has taken effect after the Supreme Court declined to hear a cassation appeal filed by the prosecution, ERR reports.

On May 20, the Tallinn Circuit Court overturned in full an earlier ruling by Harju County Court and acquitted Laanet of fraud charges. Harju County Court had convicted him and imposed a suspended sentence of one year and four months.

Prosecutors alleged that Laanet received housing expense reimbursements in 2022 and 2023, when he was a member of the Riigikogu and the government, by submitting false information. Rent payments under a lease with a related person are not eligible for reimbursement.

When applying for reimbursement, Laanet stated that the lease had been concluded not with a related person but with a legal entity whose sole shareholder and board member was his wife’s son.

The dispute concerned both whether the lease had been concluded with a related person and whether Laanet knew that his wife’s son was considered a related person under Estonia’s Anti-Corruption Act.

The circuit court agreed with the county court that the lease had been concluded with a related person. However, it found that the rules governing housing expense reimbursements for the justice minister differed from those applying to others, and that reimbursement for the justice minister did not depend on whether the lease was with a related person.

Unlike the county court, the circuit court also found Laanet’s claim that he did not know his wife’s child was a related person to be credible. It said there was no evidence disproving his explanation of how he understood the concept of a related person.

The circuit court said Laanet had not acted with sufficient care by failing to familiarise himself with the law, but that this alone was not enough for a fraud conviction. Fraud requires a person to know with certainty that they are submitting false information.

The court ordered the state to reimburse Laanet 36,548.40 euros in legal costs.