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Last year, an accelerating trend was spotted by Internal Security Service (Kapo) of organised criminals seeking to plant cronies into local representative bodies. One such case was discovered in run up to 2013 fall local elections in Tallinn, as former Centre Party member Tõnis Bittman planned, with help by persons connected to organised crime, purchases of votes for Robert Sadovski.
At the elections, Mr Sadovski run as a soc dem; even so, once in the council he was intending to act in Centre Party interests. «During voting time, the council member’s vote could have been exchanged for a deal,» explained Kapo director-general Arnold Sinisalu.
In the estimate of Kapo, probability of corruption cases in local governments in on the rise. The problem is worrisome, as in a small country a municipal official prone to accept bribes or gratuities may rise to a weighty state office relatively fast.