MOSCOW (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 13th January, 2021) Estonian Prime Minister Juri Ratas announced on Wednesday he was resigning in the wake of a corruption scandal around Tallinn's real estate development, the state-run Estonian Public Broadcasting (ERR) reported.
Earlier this week, Estonia's public prosecutor's office said it suspected the Centre Party (which Ratas chairs) and five individuals of being involved in a corruption case: the party allegedly received financial support in return for approving a 39 million Euros ($47.6 million) loan that Estonia's state credit agency KredEx provided to the Porto Franco real estate development.
"The suspicions lodged by the Office of the Prosecutor General today do not yet mean that someone is definitely guilty, but they inevitably cast a serious shadow on all the parties involved. In such a situation, giving, through my resignation, a possibility to shed light on all circumstances and achieve clarity seems the only right thing to do. Under conditions of political and societal calm. I am convinced that the investigating authorities will do their work professionally and without bias and will establish the definitive truth also in this case," Ratas told reporters, as quoted by ERR.
The outgoing prime minister stressed that despite taking political responsibility for the loan scandal, he was not fully informed about all the details.
"I can say with full peace of mind that as the prime minister, I have not made a single malevolent or knowingly wrong decision. As of today, I have communicated with both the prosecutor general and the ISS [Internal Security Service], who both affirmed that they have no suspicions with regard to myself. As the head of government, I did not feel in the Porto Franco case either that some minister or political party had tried to influence the decisions made by the government in an unlawful direction," Ratas continued.
