Estonia, Financial Services, Legislation, Port

According to unofficial information the defense could receive the case files in the fourth week of May. This means that the defense will have the first opportunity to see what evidence has been collected during pretrial investigation and the defense can also submit requests, for instance for the case to be closed, for additional expertise, for adding witnesses, etc.

The Public Prosecutor's Office did not want to say when the materials would reach the defense before the end of the pretrial investigation.

According to Kiil's defense attorney Aivar Pilv he has no information on the end of the pretrial investigation. "Initially it was said that it would end in March, then ERR wrote that it would take place in April, but this information was contradicted by the Public Prosecutor's Office," Pilv told.

According to Pilv's knowledge the case file is around 80 pages by now. "If it is true, it would make sense if the defense had time to look through this and submit requests if necessary for at least two months. Therefore it is not realistic for the case to reach the court before the summer," Pilv said.

The Internal Security Service (ISS) detained Kiil and Kaljurand on Aug. 26, 2015. On the same day three more people were detained as suspects in bribe-giving and another three as suspected accessories to bribe-giving, but they were released a few days later. Kaljurand and Kiil were released at the beginning of January but placed under electronic surveillance. Later on two persons connected with the Polish shipyard that is building new ferries for Port of Tallinn subsidiary TS Laevad were declared suspects as well.

The former board members are suspected of accepting bribes on a large scale over a period of several years at least since 2009. The Public Prosecutor's Office has said the placement of orders for the construction of two new ferries at a shipyard in Gdansk, Poland is a central point of the investigation.