Anton Dijev News Today

Opposition deputies in Kohtla-Järve have started coalition negotiations in the wake of a corruption scandal which engulfed the majority of leading city government figures and coalition councilors in the eastern Estonian city. So far, the potential new coalition has 10 people assembled out of a required 13, while the opposition has tabled no fewer than six motions of no-confidence.

Six more people have been declared suspects in a Police and Border Guard Board (PPA) investigation into a corruption scandal which has engulfed the city government and council in the eastern Estonian town of Kohtla-Järve.

Electoral alliances taking part in the October 2021 local elections in the eastern Estonian towns of Kohtla-Järve and Jõhvi obtained discounts of well over 90 percent when placing campaign ads in a local free paper owned by a businessman in the town who is at the center of the corruption case which started to unfold last week.

The eastern Estonian town of Kohtla-Järve is on the verge of political disaster, at least according to chair of the Center Party's local branch, following a corruption scandal which engulfed several deputies and city government officials, all of whom, the Center chair says, should step down from their positions or have their powers suspended, regional daily Põhjarannik reports.

The names have been released of several other suspects placed under suspicion of corruption in the eastern Estonian town of Kohtla-Järve following a Police and Border Guard Board (PPA) swoop on Tuesday. The names include the city's council chair, Tiit Lillemets (Center).