Minister of Justice Kalle Laanet (Reform) has been obtaining reimbursement from the state to the tune of €12,000 for a rental property in Tallinn in which he has been residing, investigative weekly Eesti Ekspress reported Saturday.
Laanet had rented the apartment from his stepson, the weekly reports, both while justice minister, his current post, and while he was defense minister 2021-2022.
Laanet was appointed justice minister when the Reform-Eesti 200-SDE coalition entered office in April 2023.
Over the two ministerial stints, a total of €12,000 has been paid from state coffers in respect of the apartment rent, Eesti Ekspress writes, noting that he is fully entitled to claim this reimbursement on the grounds that his permanent registered residence is not in Tallinn.
The apartment is rented out to Laanet by a company called OÜ JKG, whose sole registered board member and shareholder is Joonas Rõõm.
Rõõm is Laanet’s stepson, and has owned the apartment in question since 2006, Eesti Ekspress reports.
Laanet himself told Eesti Ekspress that: “I rent the apartment from OÜ JKG. The company belongs to my wife’s adult son from her first marriage. I do not think there is anything to be ashamed of here.”
Under current law, a government member can apply for housing expenses reimbursement by submitting the relevant application to either the government office or the ministry, while the government member making such an application is required to declare that the lease agreement has not been concluded with any relative or related individual who would meet the definition set out in section seven of the Anti-corruption Act.
The act states that a related person includes in this definition, the official’s spouse, registered partner, grandparent, a parent of the official or of the official’s spouse, a descendant of the official’s parent including the official’s own offspring or grandchildren, and also both any adopted child, and any child of a spouse or registered partner (ie. this last definition is relevant here – ed.).
A defined related person also includes any legal entity in which at least one-tenth of a shareholding or the right to acquire a shareholding belongs to the official themselves, or to any person related to them.
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