In Estonia, there have been calls for Prime Minister Kaja Kallas to resign because of her spouse’s business dealings with Russia. Kallas asserts his innocence and refuses to resign.
TALLINN The meeting of the Riigikogu anti-corruption committee of the Estonian Parliament was exceptionally public today. The agenda of the meeting included the prime minister’s wealth, income and affiliation declarations.
The prime minister is the reason Kaja Kallasen spouse Arvo Hall too part-owned company’s transports to Russia. Estonian public radio ERR reported on August 23 that the Stark Logistics company has continued to transport also after Russia invaded Ukraine.
Estonian according to the protection police sanctions against Russia have not been violated in the transactions. However, the situation looks bad for Kallas, because he has profiled himself as a very strong supporter of Ukraine during the Russian war of aggression.
In addition, Kallas has called on Estonian companies to stop all transactions related to Russia.
The committee demanded information on previous years’ income
The committee’s hearing turned out to be quite a show. Chairman of the committee, vice-chairman of the conservative People’s Party Ekre Mart Helme and Kallas sometimes talked over each other, almost shouting.
Kallas assured at the hearing that he had done nothing wrong. She repeated her earlier statements that she only spoke to her husband about his Stark Logistics dealings after the scandal broke.
However, he was asked to provide information about, among other things, loans totaling around 372,000 euros that Kallas has given to his spouse’s investment company in recent years. In these prospects, the investment company is not involved in transports to Russia.
Kallas promised to deliver the loan agreement to the committee later. On the other hand, the committee and Kallas did not reach an agreement on the need and scope of the investigation of the income received before his political career, i.e. until 2010.
Kallas worked as a lawyer before entering politics. He has said that he lent his spouse’s investment company with his savings.
The opposition, the people and the newspapers demand a resignation
The Estonian opposition has demanded Kalla’s resignation and early elections. According to opinion polls, 60–70 percent of the people would also like Kallas to resign. In addition, Estonian newspapers have published editorials calling for resignation.
The government of the reform party led by Kallas heard the prime minister on the subject on Friday. After the consultation, the party government announced that it supports Kallas continuing as prime minister.
The government partners of the Reform Party, the Social Democrats and the liberal Estonia 200 have also announced that they will continue to cooperate with the government.