5 police officials involved in Eerik Heldna's fictitious contract

TALLINN - Estonian Police and Border Guard Board's new Director General Egert Belitsev said that five police officials were involved in the fictitious employment contract of customs chief Eerik Heldna, including the head of the Central Criminal Police, and that none of the said five people currently continue performing their work tasks, Postimees reports. 

"According to the information we have, five people were involved in registering Eerik Heldna as employed at the Police and Border Guard Board. In addition to Elmar Vaher, Priit Parkna was involved, who was the head of the department of information management and proceedings in 2019. It matter also concerns Aivar Alavere, head of the Central Criminal Police, Toomas Lohmus, who is the head of the bureau of operations at the Central Criminal Police, and one human resources specialist at the Police and Border Guard Board," Belitsev said.

He added that the five people are not currently performing their tasks at the Police and Border Guard Board. 

"It is important for us that work in the organization be interrupted as little as possible and it is clear that the people involved in the case cannot currently continue performing their work tasks. We will await the answers from the investigation and until then, their tasks will be performed by their substitutes," he said.

Belitsev noted that it is deeply regrettable that such suspicions have arisen and it is undoubtedly a great blow to the organization.

"It is important to ascertain the truth and at the same time ensure that work continues as usual. We're comprehensively cooperating with the Internal Security Service and the prosecutor's office to gain clarity in this matter. I learned about this case yesterday and have since been in communication with our cooperation partners as well as with my colleagues from the Police and Border Guard Board to determine the circumstances. The Ministry of the Interior has launched supervisory control with regard to rotations. The Police and Border Guard Board will also review all current rotations internally and assess if they are reasonable," he added.

Rotating police officers to other institutions is an ordinary practice and close to 50 people are currently performing their tasks outside the Police and Border Guard Board on a rotational basis. 

"For example, some people have been posted to international organizations, such as Frontex and Europol, but people have also moved around domestically, many are currently working in the Ministry of the Interior. Although the law does not provide for how long a person must work in the Police and Border Guard Board before they can be posted to a different agency, normally, these people have been working at the Police and Border Guard Board on a daily basis," Belitsev added.