The President of Eesti Pank Ardo Hansson replied to the interpellation concerning the activities of Eesti Pank in connection with the VEB Fund (No 199), submitted by Members of the Riigikogu Deniss Boroditsh, Inara Luigas, Kalle Laanet, Lembit Kaljuvee and Rainer Vakra on 10 October. 

According to Hansson’s explanations, the Supreme Court is conducting proceedings in the legality of the decision on the compensation for claims secured by certificates upon liquidation of the VEB Fund. He stressed that we had always been ready to cooperate in every way both with liquidator of the VEB Fund Rein Järvelill and the Supreme Court. “Eesti Pank has transferred all documents necessary for the court proceedings to liquidator of the VEB Fund Rein Järvelill who in turn has submitted them to the Supreme Court,” the President of Eesti Pank noted. 

In Hansson’s words, the current new Executive Board of Eesti Pank does not have a detailed overview of the history of the VEB Fund, of what happened there and the related documents. “That is why I decided to conduct an internal audit on the VEB Fund on 21 September. We informed the public of it through the media and this approach was also supported by the Supervisory Board of Eesti Pank,” Hansson said. He added that the aim of the audit in progress was to find out and assess the documents and activities relating to the VEB Fund of Eesti Pank. The audit of Eesti Pank is expected to be completed by the end of this year and we will publish the results thereof and then we will be ready to answer the questions of members of the Riigikogu and the public, he noted. “The interest and desire of the Estonian people to get answers is justified. The mandate of the internal audit of Eesti Pank does not allow for auditing of all issues concerning the VEB Fund because a central bank does not have the authority to review documents outside the bank or to hear people outside the bank. However, we will study all documents that Eesti Pank has access to with full thoroughness. Therefore it is my understanding that our internal audit might be followed by an audit by the National Audit Office which would help find additional answers to questions. The decision on the conducting of an additional audit is for the National Audit Office to make, but they have offered help to us,” Hansson gave an overview of the treatment of the issue. 

The Minister of Agriculture Helir-Valdor Seeder replied to the interpellation concerning the developments in the area of government of the Minister of Agriculture (No 198), submitted by Members of the Riigikogu Aivar Riisalu, Enn Eesmaa, Ester Tuiksoo, Kalev Kallo, Lauri Laasi, Marika Tuus-Laul, Olga Sõtnik, Peeter Võsa, Priit Toobal, Tarmo Tamm, Valeri Korb, Viktor Vassiljev and Yana Toom on 9 October. 

The Minister of Justice Kristen Michal replied to the interpellation concerning the Debt Restructuring and Debt Protection Act (No 202), submitted by Members of the Riigikogu Aivar Riisalu, Eldar Efendijev, Enn Eesmaa, Ester Tuiksoo, Kalev Kallo, Lauri Laasi, Mailis Reps, Peeter Võsa, Valeri Korb, Viktor Vassiljev and Yana Toom on 15 October. 

During the open microphone, Mihhail Stalnuhhin and Inara Luigas took the floor. 

On the motion of the Legal Affairs Committee, the second reading of the Bill on Amendments to the Imprisonment Act, the Probation Supervision Act and the Penal Code (264 SE), initiated by the Government, was excluded from the agenda for the working week. 

The Riigikogu Press Service