Former RKIK chief blamed for failed 70 million euro shell deal
Wednesday 2nd September 2026 on 09:45 in
Estonia
Estonia’s former State Defence Investment Centre director Magnus-Valdemar Saar is responsible for a failed 70 million euro shell contract, the centre’s current head Elmar Vaher told ERR.
Vaher said the State Defence Investment Centre, known by its Estonian acronym RKIK, had not followed necessary financial management principles when the contract was signed.
The 2024 to 2025 contract involved advance payments to a supplier that had not previously delivered such goods. The supplier failed to meet its contractual obligations, and RKIK has gone to court to protect the state’s rights, Vaher said.
“I would not have signed this contract,” Vaher said, adding that he did not consider it appropriate to sign an agreement of that size or make such a large advance payment to a company the centre did not know and that was not itself a manufacturer of ammunition.
Asked who was behind the decision, Vaher named Saar, the former director general of RKIK.
Vaher said his team had searched for all documents related to the decision from 2024 and 2025 and had submitted them to the National Audit Office. The office has assessed the materials as insufficient and said that some documents are missing, he said.
“We certainly submitted everything that was available,” Vaher said, adding that RKIK continued to cooperate with the National Audit Office. He said he had personally met several times with Janar Holm and the auditors and that the centre was trying to locate any missing documents, if possible.
Vaher said the situation became clear to him in February or March, when RKIK began preparing to terminate the contracts and take legal action. The corresponding claims were filed in April or May, he said.
He described 70 million euros as the final amount at present.
Vaher took over as RKIK director in January. He said that, in his assessment, the centre’s financial management principles as a whole had not been sufficient and that numerous changes had already been made, with more to come.
Vaher said he had proposed a financial audit of RKIK to Defence Minister Hanno Pevkur. They agreed not to commission a separate audit because the National Audit Office was already conducting one.