ERR

Building permits and public procurements are the areas in which the biggest whiff of corruption hits the nostrils of the public, according to a pan-European Eurobarometer survey.

Transparency International’s 2012 Corruption Perceptions Index places Estonia 32nd of 174 countries, a slight drop from last year. Estonia’s score was affected most by a risk of political corruption.

More accusations have hit Enterprise Estonia after a Finance Ministry audit suggested that Ericsson's Estonian operation was encouraged by the state business support agency to break EU funding rules.

Prosecutors' documents paint an unflattering picture of the Reform Party as a syndicate or ruling family and say a presumption of dirty dealing hovers over the case even though the evidence did not stick.