Estonia, Funds, Legal Counsel, Legislation

 It said the letter of guarantee signed by Toobal that the media learned about on Thursday has been known to some people in the party's governing board for a month now. The guarantee issued to the company Midfield belonging to Center's longtime campaign master Paavo Pettai means that if the company should find itself in financial difficulty, the party will help out.

Other members of the party's governing board know nothing about the letter. This is the first time ever for the party to come in touch with a letter of guarantee like this, the newspaper said.

It is expected that the board of Center that will gather for an emergency meeting on Monday will order and expert analysis of the document.

Some members of the board have said they believe the guarantee set out on a piece of paper in A4 format has no legal force. People on the board are also convinced that Toobal overstepped his powers by signing a guarantee for an amount of money like this.

While under law each member of the board and the secretary general of a nonprofit organization are entitled to sign agreements individually, the amount of money concerned must not exceed 25% of the yearly income of the NPO. The amount indicated in the letter of guarantee bearing Toobal's signature is close to one-third of the annual income of the party.

"We wish to believe that this paper is unlawful and no one has to bear responsibility," Postimees reported several board members as saying.

Postimees has learned that allegedly the paper has been a subject of discussion with the party's chairman Edgar Savisaar on several occasions. Rumor has it that Toobal once again was the one to perform orders when he unthinkingly put his signature under the letter of guarantee.

Postimees also said that according to hearsay lawyers defending Savisaar showed the paper to the party's current secretary general Oudekki Loone already a month ago.

The Center Party is known to have been regularly repaying its debt to Midfield. According to Postimees this begs the question that if a similar amount of the debt has been repaid, are we speaking of a new debt here?

Should Midfield file for bankruptcy, the paper will certainly end up in the hands of receivers who will start claimning the money from the Center Party. Even if Center succeeds in deeming the paper null and void this doesn't mean that the party will not face litigation, Postimees said.

The Center Party's financial manager, Kalev Kallo, said he knows nothing about the paper. "I really don't know. There is no clarity now and I don't know how this paper has been made. When there is a meeting at the beginning of the new week and the matter is discussed, I will hear clarifications for the first time just like everyone else," Kallo said. "I don't believe that the matter is that serious, there's certainly a lot of hot air in this. It cannot be so that one person can issue a guarantee like this on the board's behalf. This is legally null and void or similar. But I truly cannot say anything more."

Spokespeople for the party have said it makes no sense to ask Savisaar, Toobal or Loone for comment before the board has met.