Wardens busted for paying themselves bonuses

  • 2004-09-02
  • Baltic News Service
TALLINN - The Justice Ministry said that prison warden who awarded themselves performance bonuses had clearly violated the law and therefore were given disciplinary punishments. Seven wardens lodged a complaint against the ministry in a administrative court demanding cancellation of the conclusions of an in-house investigation carried out in July that resulted in a reprimand for three wardens and lowering of salary by up to one-third for four others.

Due to a resolution that took effect in April 2003 prison officials can be awarded performance bonuses and extra pay only by the official who has the right to appoint them, which in the case of wardens is the justice minister, a ministry spokeswoman said.
The ministry carried out an investigation, which according to the spokeswoman revealed that the wardens had paid themselves performance bonuses in the sum of 148,415 kroons (9,500 euros) during the year since the resolution came into force.
Andrus Kore, head of the Tartu prison, awarded himself a bonus of 66,250 kroons.
The seven wardens who breached the rules were either reprimanded or forced to take a pay cut of 10 percent - 30 percent for a period of three months. In addition, they have to pay back the extra money they paid themselves.
The claim that the rules applying to wardens are an exception and that heads of other state institutions may pay bonuses to themselves is incorrect, the spokeswoman said.
In the opinion of the Tartu, Parnu, Amari, Viljandi, Harku, Maardu and Murru jail wardens, the ministry reacted unfairly since the probe was carried out incorrectly and in a biased manner.
Legal action against the ministry is "our common wish to clear up with the help of court exactly what we were punished for," the warden of the Tartu prison and chairman of the council of wardens, Andrus Kore, said.
"The department of penal institutions, which is supposed to keep an eye on our work and instruct us, paid no attention to the muddle and said, carry on as before, or in other words, gave to understand we should continue paying performance bonuses to ourselves," one of the wardens told the Postimees daily.
"The deputy chancellor responsible for prisons, Peeter Naks, was at the same time well informed about everything," he declared.
"If this is not unfair to us - ministry employees were aware of the confusion but did nothing to solve it and in the end escaped unpunished - then what is it?" Kore asked.
Naks responded by telling the paper that he knew nothing about the muddle with the payment of performance bonuses until December. "I don't deal with trifles. I thought men with a higher education were themselves able to read legal acts," he was quoted as saying.