Leaks to the media of confidential business information and minutes of meetings from the supervisory board of Estonia's state-owned energy group Eesti Energia have annoyed the ministers of economic affairs and finance and may lead to the replacement of supervisory board members, the daily Postimees says.
"Delicate information has been shared with both media concerns over time. Replacing the supervisory board of Eesti Energia would be an extreme consequence but one that cannot be ruled out," Finance Minister Jürgen Ligi said on Friday.
On Thursday Eesti Energia was transferred from the jurisdiction of the Ministry of Economic Affairs and Communications to the Finance Ministry. "I sent members of the Eesti Energia supervisory board an e-mail about the impermissibility of leaks weeks ago," Ligi told Postimees. "Then the finger was pointed at a concrete person, but both he and the journalist denied it. Regrettably, leaks have not ended, which both I and the economy minister feel is extremely loathsome."
The minister of economy, Juhan Parts, sent on Wednesday a letter to supervisory board members demanding assurances that they had not leaked confidential material.
"Eesti Paevaleht has published a story by the journalist Kadri Paas /.../ which contains excerpts of minutes of Eesti Energia supervisory board meetings as well as other materials and related photographs," said the minister in whose words it is obvious that the published information is derived from materials of supervisory board meetings.
Eesti Energia CEO Sandor Liive said the paper published photos of technical elements of the company's new oil factory the publication of which is prohibited by a confidentiality agreement with technology developer Outotec. Such photos may entail a damages claim for the company, he said.
A representative of the Ministry of Economic Affairs and Communications confirmed on Friday that all the eight members of the supervisory board had e-mailed the minister their denials of leaking information.
Supervisory board minutes dealing with the tender for the construction of Eesti Energia's new Auvere power plant that were leaked to the media last fall resulted in a no confidence vote against Parts, the paper notes.
The supervisory board of Eesti Energia is chaired by Juri Käo and its members are Meelis Atonen, Kalle Palling, Toomas Tauts, Toomas Luman, Andres Saame and Märt Vooglaid. The businessman Rein Kilk recently resigned from the board and one seat is vacant.