Ministry orders special audit for Eesti Energia

Photo: Tairo Lutter

Upon the decision of the minister of finance as the representative of the sole shareholder of Eesti Energia, a special audit will be carried out at the state-owned energy group this year to assess how the group has been managed in the past few years.

Finance Minister Mart Vorklaev said in a press release on Wednesday that there have been problems with the performance of Eesti Energia already for some time and the sectoral audits carried out by the new management board have identified questionable aspects, to which answers are needed.

«With the current board, we have had entirely constructive cooperation. We discussed the situation in more detail with the company's CEO, Andrus Durejko, in early March when I requested an overview of the problem areas and the situation. Having heard the group's management and due to the responsibility as the owner, I have decided to initiate a review process to determine whether the previous management activities comply with the duty of due diligence,» the minister said.

He added that as the owner, the state wants to find out how the current situation has arisen -- whether there have been systemic errors in management and to what extent the previous management team bears responsibility. The period from Jan. 1, 2020, to Dec. 31, 2023, will be audited.

As a result of the special audit, the impact of management actions and decisions on the company's financial results and financial position should be revealed. The audit will be carried out in the course of 2024 and it will not affect the functioning of the services of Eesti Energia. The normal activities of the group's companies will continue.

From the perspective of the group's financial activities, a number of risks materialized in 2023 and financial results showing a loss were disclosed at the beginning of this year.

The sole shareholder of Eesti Energia AS is the Republic of Estonia, on whose behalf the management of shares is carried out by the Ministry of Finance and represented by the minister of finance.