Tallinn mayor denies paper's report about his Swiss bank account

Photo: A.Peegel

The mayor of Tallinn and chairman of Estonia's Center Party, Edgar Savisaar, has denied a newspaper report about his secret bank account in Switzerland.

It appears from a Swiss court document that the Estonian prosecutor's office and security police suspect Savisaar of hiding corruptive income in a Swiss bank, the business daily Äripaev said on Friday.

Savisaar said that nobody has confronted him with any kind of suspicion and that it is not possible to comment on something that does not exist.

"I haven't any accounts in Switzerland. In this regard I differ from many enterprising businesspeople and politicians in Estonia," the Centrist leader said. "On the contrary, a check by a Swiss court showed that I have not been the actual beneficiary or the sole person in control of any foundation or company there."

Savisaar said he and other persons concerned had already a long time ago described in great detail everything related to the publishing foundation Arsai Investment in the newspapers Pealinn and Kesknädal. "The Äripaev story contains no new questions, so it is not possible to give any new answers."

The mayor said he and the businessman Alexander Kofkin have taken action over false information contained in the documents the Estonian law enforcement bodies sent to Switzerland. "This process has not yet ended. I'm also using the opportunities to which the Supreme Court referred in its ruling. On the whole, I advise the impatient media figures to await the final outcome of the proceeding initiated by myself and Alexander Kofkin, which hopefully will also provide answers to Äripaev's  questions."

Äripaev found the document which sheds more light on Savisaar's finances in Switzerland's public court register. The owner of the bank account that the Estonian prosecutor's office and security police have taken under scrutiny is called a family foundation (Familienstiftung) in it.

According to the security police's information the mayor of Tallinn may have a bank account in Switzerland. Savisaar's lawyers attempted to prevent forwarding of the relevant information to Estonian prosecutors. However, a Swiss court dismissed the action and the respective ruling contains a description of the content of the inquiry launched into Savisaar's affairs in Estonia.

A source told Aripaev that investigative agencies may have arrived at the Swiss bank account connected with Savisaar when looking into the mayor's loan transactions in 2009. In October of that year Savisaar obtained a loan of 173,550 euros from a company owned by the sons of Ain Seppik, then member of the Center Party, which he repaid in December. It appears from the Swiss court document that Savisaar may actually have had the necessary money himself but it was in the account of the foundation Arsai Investment in Switzerland, the paper said.

According to the paper, the prosecutor's office and security police suspect that Savisaar's loan from the Seppiks' company was repaid through the foundation and because of that the mayor is considered to be the real beneficiary of the foundation. The payment was shown on paper as a new loan, but investigators believe the scheme was used to conceal the origin of kickbacks received by Savisaar.

The paper has information that Alexander Kofkin, a businessman born in Estonia and based in Switzerland who has considerable business interests in Tallinn , paid close to 192,000 euros into the Swiss bank account connected with Savisaar already back in 2007. Two years later the money moved into the Panama-registered company Pipa Business Corporation which ostensibly gave a loan to Savisaar and after several money transfers the Seppiks' company got its money back, Äripaev said.

The Swiss court document uses the term "family foundation" for the entity connected with Savisaar. A family foundation is a legal person that does not have to be entered in the Swiss commercial register. In Savisaar's declaration of economic interests there is no indication that he might have a bank account abroad, be connected with some foundation or have assets outside Estonia, Äripaev said.