Former finance minister accused of abuse of trust

  • 2014-02-05
  • From wire reports, TALLINN

Former Estonian finance minister Mart Opmann has been accused of alleged abuse of trust which led to the insolvency of a firm.

In addition to Opmann, Jürgen Vester faces the court, being accused of abuse of trust, causing insolvency of a company and embezzlement and violating booking obligations, the North Estonian district prosecutor office says.

According to the indictment, Vester, a former council member of AS Premium Motors Grupp that is now bankrupt, caused a total of 2.855 million euros of damages for the company during 2007-2010. Mart Opmann, a former company board member has been accused of causing 1.628 million euro damages to the company.

Opmann, an economic cybernetics graduate from Tartu University, was MP and finance minister in 1995-1999 in the 2nd and 3rd governments of prime minister Tiit Vähi and in the government of Mart Siimann.

Opmann has been a Coalition Party and People's Union member. The Harju county court holds a preliminary hearing in the case on Thursday, Jan. 6.