At the end of February, the commercial register deleted the nonprofit Infograafika ja Ergonoomika Instituudi MTÜ, owned by Henri Laupmaa, for failure to submit its 2022 annual report. The nonprofit served as the legal entity behind toeta.me, a donation platform associated with suspected embezzlement.

Donors on the platform had donated nearly €225,000 in support of a campaign to send drones to Ukraine, which Laupmaa failed to pay out to the campaign organizers. Over the past six months, Laupmaa has gradually been transferring the money in question, with €81,000 in funds still outstanding.

Musician and writer Roy Strider, who led the campaign, told ERR that this year, Laupmaa has only paid back just €5,000 of the missing money.

According to the agreement concluded with the campaign organizers, Laupmaa was supposed to transfer the money raised by the campaign in full by October 23 of last year – nearly six months ago.

This January, Laupmaa told ERR that he would pay off the entire outstanding amount within the month of February.

Last September, the Northern District Prosecutor's Office launched a criminal investigation to verify information suggesting that funds collected in a charity project via the online donation platform toeta.me had allegedly been misappropriated.

The fundraising campaign aimed to purchase 21 GPS jammer-equipped drones from Estonian defense industry company Threod Systems; the GPS jammers extend the lifespan of drones on the front and help circumvent Russian electronic warfare tools.

Among those to lead the drone fundraising campaign in addition to Strider were also MPs Eerik-Niiles Kross (Reform) and Juku-Kalle Raid (Eesti 200).

ERR was unable to obtain a comment from Henri Laupmaa.

--

Follow ERR News on Facebook and Twitter and never miss an update!