TALLINN - After officially announcing his resignation on Aug. 17, former Police Chief Robert Antropov will pass the responsibility over to Riavo Aeg, who was recommended by Interior Minister Kalle Laanet.
Aeg's position is only temporary, until a new police chief is officially appointed, Lannet said, adding that Aeg could possibly become the next official head of police.
Antropov's resignation came as little surprise after Prime Minister Andrus Ansip said it was no longer possible to trust the official on Aug. 16.
Earlier this summer, the former chief of police found himself enmeshed in scandal after chauffeuring his parents through Saarma Island on Mid Summer's Eve in a department vehicle.
Additional information surfaced earlier this week that, in addition to the Saarma incident, Antropov had also used a department vehicle to drive his parents from the Kuressaare Health Center to the Kuivastu Port.
"My acquaintances took them to the port and I came to meet them from Haapsalu and brought them to Tallinn," Antropov told the Baltic News Service when questioned about the incident.
Yet, it was Antropov's dishonesty with the prime minister that sealed his fate.
"The police general has told neither me nor the interior minister everything pertaining to the matter, although we both trusted him," Ansip said after Antropov failed to admit which department vehicle he took and for what purposes.
Antropov first handed in his resignation on July 15, after it became public that he had used a police vehicle for private purposes. However on July 18, Laanet decided to pardon the police chief.
Aeg and Lannet have a long history of working together. In 1995, the former served the Saare County precinct as Lannet's deputy. One year later, he was promoted to lead the Rapla Prefecture, and then again in 1999 as director of the law enforcement department. Since 2004, Aeg has been heading the personal protection service.
