Prosecutors open criminal investigation into Defence Ministry administration

Prosecutors have opened a criminal investigation into the Defence Ministry’s administrative area over issues raised in state audits of its 2024 and 2025 accounts, ERR reported.

The investigation concerns the accuracy of the inventory balance recorded in Defence Ministry reports as of December 31, 2024.

Chief State Prosecutor Astrid Asi said prosecutors reviewed information from an audit published in 2025, as well as a crime report. They opened the investigation on October 13 under a law covering breaches of accounting obligations that significantly hinder an overview of an entity’s economic and financial position.

No one has been formally suspected of a crime. The investigation is being conducted by the Estonian Internal Security Service.

A separate criminal investigation has not been opened based on the State Audit Office’s audit of the ministry’s 2025 report, published on August 28. The information and circumstances covered by that audit will be examined as part of the investigation launched in 2025, Asi said.

Defence Ministry Secretary General Kaimo Kuusk said the ministry was cooperating fully with the investigative authorities.

“The case is currently being handled by the competent authorities, and we are cooperating fully within the proceedings. No one has been formally suspected,” Kuusk said, adding that the matter concerned compliance with accounting requirements and had been identified in the State Audit Office’s audit of the state’s 2024 annual accounts.

The State Audit Office said its audit had identified numerous serious problems in institutions under the Defence Ministry, increasing the risk of misuse of state money and property.