Businessman: corruption everywhere in Viimsi municipality
19.09.2012, 14:05Märt Vooglaid who heads the Reform Party in the affluent Viimsi municipality just outside Tallinn, says that people on power in Viimsi are openly rigging public tenders to ensure that they are won by the “right” bidder, writes Eesti Päevaleht daily.
The right bidder in this sense is Esmar Ehitus, a construction company that belongs to Aarne Jõgimaa who is also chairman of the municipal council of Viimsi when he was elected to the post by the local businessmen's club.
Viimsi is one of the municipalities where Andrus Ansip’s ruling Reform Party is in opposition.
According to Vooglaid who is himself a property developer, the latest example of rampant corruption in Viimsi is the public tender for the construction of the new school.
Not surprisingly, all schools and pre-school facilities in Viimsi have been built by Esmar Ehitus.
The contracting authority of the school tender is Viimsi Haldus, a municipal company in which one supervisory board member is Priit Post who is also a co-shareholder in Esmar Ehitus.
Vooglaid said that the municipality is not only trying to play the contract to the hands of Esmar Ehitus, but also changed the tender terms without consulting with the opposition.
“One of these new requirements in the tender is that the school must open doors ten months after signing the construction contract. I asked two large construction firms if this was possible and both said that it was not,” remarked Vooglaid.