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Estonian Interior Minister Hanno Pevkur on Tuesday ordered the head of the ministry's internal audit department to carry out a fast audit of the credit card use of the director general of the Police and Border Guard Board, Elmar Vaher.
Ministry checking credit card use of national police chief
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The deadline for the fast check is the end of the present week, spokespeople for the ministry said.
According to Pevkur the purposeful use of state budget means is the direct responsibility of each leader. «I have received initial statements from Elmar Vaher and he said that these were means of work. I still consider it necessary to check the director general's credit card use during a longer period, after which it would be possible to conclude whether the credit card has been used purposefully,» Pevkur said.
The minister added that after the audit has been conducted, he will provide an overview of its results to the MPs who submitted an interpellation.
Artur Talvik, Free Party MP and chair of the Estonian parliament's anti-corruption select committee, on Tuesday submitted an interpellation to Interior Minister Hanno Pevkur regarding claims that a misuse of funds has been carried out in the Police and Border Guard Board, namely by director general Elmar Vaher, while the latter denies it.
Talvik demanded Vaher to provide explanations and the minister to also provide explanations as well as launch a surveillance proceeding. «We have received expense receipts which show that national police chief Elmar Vaher bought with the institution's bank card headphones worth 299 euros and hiking boots worth 139.41,» Talvik said.
Vaher said on Tuesday that he bought the boots which are the same ones that top police officials use on Sept. 30 to perform an official duty because there were no boots in his size in the storehouse. He added that he later realized that the purchase was not in accordance with the organization's general purchasing policy and asked the sum to be subtracted from his December salary. On Oct. 30 he purchased noise cancelling headphones from the airport and these are still being used by the institution's management.