Auditor General Mihkel Oviir replied to the interpellation (No. 176) concerning the use of the means of the public sector, submitted on 29 September by Member of the Riigikogu Peeter Kreitzberg. The interpellators wished to receive the Auditor General’s assessment of renting the rooms to the Tallinn Prefecture, Police Board and also to the Southern Prefecture in 2003.

Mr. Oviir stated that the lack of transparency of the process has aroused suspicion. This suspicion has been expressed in the media as well as in this interpellation. “It is not possible to say after the fact whether it could have been possible to rent those rooms more cheaply,” Auditor General stated. “First of all we have no information on the illegality of the deal. Secondly, there is no indication that great damage was caused to the state in this case,” Mr. Oviir explained.

Auditor General drew attention to the fact that the state had to take into account the taxpayer’s wish to always get adequate information about what is going on. “I think that sometimes the so-called adjudication is not necessarily the most expedient process, “Mr. Oviir stated. He expressed his contentment that the state immovable property policy as a whole has been subject to such attention and that the Government has also taken the sensible step, appointing the Ministry of Finance to be responsible for the state immovable property policy. “The task of the Ministry of Finance is to work out the fundamental priorities and main platforms concerning the state immovable property and the State Audit Office wishes to contribute to it,” Auditor General stressed.

Minister of Economic Affairs and Communications Edgar Savisaar replied to the interpellation (No. 177) concerning the roads repair and damage to the registered immovables near the roads, submitted on 11 October by Members of the Riigikogu Mart Nutt, Trivimi Velliste, Peeter Tulviste, Tõnis Lukas, Helir-Valdor Seeder and Mart Laar.

Minister of Finance Aivar Sõerd replied to the interpellation (No. 181) concerning the conditions of procurement for the building of Viru prison, submitted on 12 October by Member of the Riigikogu Ken-Marti Vaher.

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On the motion of the Finance Committee, the Bill on Amendments to the Value Added Tax Act and Taxation Act (740 SE), initiated by the Government of the Republic, was excluded from the agenda for the plenary working week.

The Riigikogu Press Service