TALLINN - Following the recent scandal involving the massive theft of grain from the nation's strategic reserves, the government carried out checks of other stores last week.
To the dismay of many, the inspections revealed that a significant number of gas-mask filters were missing from the warehouse of the Tartu detached rescue forces.
According to the Interior Ministry, the person responsible for the warehouse from 2000 to 2001 admitted that he had sold the filters, which constituted a part of the government's strategic reserve of rescue devices. Roughly 11,000 euros in damage resulted from his actions.
Last week Interior Minister Margus Leivo proposed that the government consider amending its strategic reserve regulations, which are by and large copied from Finnish legislation and are to a major extent based on a post-World War II security concept.
On March 15 authorities discovered that some 13,000 tons of grain had been stolen from a silo owned by Rakvere Viljasalv, a private company contracted by the Ministry of Agriculture to store a part of the nation's strategic grain reserve.
The damage, estimated at about 1.2 million euros, made headlines as the largest case of embezzlement the country had seen since it regained its independence.
According to Mart Missik, a lawyer representing Vladimir Semyonov, the head of Rakvere Viljasalv, his client had planned to boost the company's financial situation by borrowing the state's grain. Missik stated that Semyonov had intended to return the grain later.
The Eesti Paevaleht daily reported that stolen grain was allegedly taken to Latvia, falsely designated a Latvian product and then brought back to Rakvere Viljasalv, where it was milled and sold. The complicated scheme reportedly involved several top managers from the company.
According to outgoing Minster of Agriculture Tiit Tammsaar, who resigned as a result of the massive theft, audits of other silos containing strategic grain reserves last week did not reveal any additional losses.
The People's Party will keep the position of the minister of agriculture in accordance with the coalition agreement. The party has put forth Ester Tuiksoo, the 39-year-old chairwoman of the Estonian Chamber of Agriculture and Commerce, as its candidate to replace Tammsaar.
Although Prime Minister Juhan Parts still has not approved Tammsaar's resignation, after the March 27 meeting with Tuiksoo he said that she should study the current issues of the ministry and especially the strategic reserve management.
"The candidature of Tuiksoo was surprising for me, but this surprise may become a positive one," Parts was quoted by his press office as saying.
Upon returning from Washington on March 30, Parts was scheduled to make his final decision concerning Tammsaar's replacement.
Parts said he expected all the ministries involved in strategic reserve management to provide reports on the incident at the next governmental session on April 1.
At this session the heads of the Security Police and the police department will also report to the prime minister on the progress of the investigation.
The only reserve Estonia must maintain to adhere to EU regulations is a five-day supply of car fuel. But this amount must be increased to a 90-day reserve by 2010, according to the Ministry of Economic Affairs and Commu-nications.
