The chancellery bought a 106,940 kroon snooker table for Cabinet members last year. The table is conveniently concealed from taxpayers' eyes deep in the basement of Prime Minister Mart Laar's private office. Ministers reportedly come to play, mostly on Tuesday evenings, after sweaty Cabinet sessions.
The state audit office revealed the cost of the table on Aug. 21 as it arranged an annual audit of ministries and state institutions. The conclusion of the audit's papers says that the office "does not consider that the above-mentioned asset was purchased according to the direct duties and needs of the state chancellery."
Jaanus Rankla, spokesman for the chancellery, hit back at the audit's criticisms. The chancellery building and most of the ministries have saunas, he said, and Estonian MPs have a sports hall with a sauna.
"The snooker table is cheaper than any sauna or sports hall," he grumbled.
Peeter Kreitzberg, MP and presidential candidate of the Center Party, told the daily newspaper Postimees that the Parliament's sauna is meant for 101 people and branded the snooker table "a luxury meant for a minority."
That, however, was not the end of the state audit office's observations on the chancellery's economic activities. Special privileges granted to top officials were misused as Laar and Toomas Savi, parliamentary speaker and presidential candidate for the ruling coalition's Reform Party, allegedly never paid for using the exclusive Keila-Joa recreational complex not far from Tallinn from 1995 on.
It takes about 120,000 kroons a year to maintain the complex, which dates back to the Soviet period and consists of dachas and sports facilities exclusively for state officials and VIPs. And the money comes from taxpayers' pockets.
According to the state audit office, living for free on government-owned premises is a privilege that has to be funded by income and social taxes.
Sven Soiver, the audit office's press representative, told The Baltic Times that the aim of the audit was to check whether the taxpayers' money is being spent in a prudent way and whether state property is being handled correctly.
The office has to present a report by the name of "Overview of State Property Management and Keeping" to Parliament by Sept. 1.
The state audit office does not have the power to make a state institution sell or get rid of anything it deems unnecessary, but it can certainly draw public attention to individual cases - as with the snooker table.
According to Piljardiekspert, an Estonian company selling pool accessories, the price of the table standing in Laar's office basement is quite normal. "One hundred seven thousand kroons is the real market price for a 12-foot table," said a representative of the company.
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