ERR online

The Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development has criticized Estonia's efforts to tamp down bribery from foreign sources, saying in a new report that the country may not have an adequate legal framework yet to handle it.

Viru County Court handed a 35-year-old Lithuanian man a 700-euro fine for attempting to bribe an Estonian customs official with 500 rubles (10.5 euros).

Four employees of the Police and Border Guard Board (PPA) were apprehended in September for a case of bribery amounting to 50,000 euros and a separate embezzlement case.

Moscow will look for every way to circumvent the sanctions and encourage divisions within the European Union before the question of economic sanctions returns, writes Siim Kallas.

KaPo, the Internal Security Service, has arrested a Jõhvi councilman, a former local politician and a businessman accused of rigging state procurements, bribery and influence peddling.

Reform Party member and former Port of Tallinn supervisory board head, Neinar Seli said after corruption allegations against Port of Tallinn's board members surfaced, that other state-owned companies should also be closely examined, such as Eesti Energia and Estonian Air.

Justice Minister Hanno Pevkur recently ventured an opinion that the Internal Security Service (KaPo) could be a purely counterintelligence organization, leaving corruption investigation to the police, but Cabinet colleagues beg to differ.

Interior Minister Ken-Marti Vaher has said that, if passed, a bill submitted to Parliament by the Center Party aiming to limit the use of surveillance tactics by authorities would hamper the work of law enforcement agencies.

A recent survey by Ernst & Young shows that as many as 19 percent of businesses in the Baltic states are prepared to offer bribes to enliven their business activities, a drastic increase from only 4 percent a year ago.

President Toomas Hendrik Ilves said in remarks at a prestigious Google conference that IT solutions helped make Estonia bigger than its geographic borders.