Pevkur says ammunition was defective, not useless

Outgoing Estonian Defence Minister Hanno Pevkur said the ammunition involved in a controversial procurement was defective and incomplete, rather than useless, ERR reported. In an interview with ETV’s Esimene stuudio programme, Pevkur said the state had good prospects of winning a legal dispute over the supplier’s breach of contract.

Pevkur said he had accepted political responsibility to help restore confidence in national defence. He said the minister was responsible for the broader area, even though many of the criticisms raised by the State Audit Office concerned the Estonian Centre for Defence Investment and the Defence Forces.

“In this case, in the interests of restoring trust in national defence, it was necessary for the lightning rod to take the hit,” Pevkur said.

He said the State Audit Office had made 36 observations concerning the Estonian Centre for Defence Investment, 32 of which had since been addressed. The centre processes about 7,000 purchase invoices a year, he said, while one dispute with a partner had attracted particular attention.

Pevkur added that the Defence Forces had more than 1,100 locations containing assets that needed to be counted, as well as more than 200 million individual items that had to be checked in one way or another.

Asked whether his political career had ended, Pevkur said this would be determined by time. He noted that politicians had previously returned to prominent positions after leaving office or stepping down.

He also congratulated Ülle Madise on becoming president, saying Estonia had gained a good president and that Parliament had fulfilled its constitutional duty.