Riigikogu committees to hold joint meeting after bank statements scandal
After the Chancellor of Justice's Office found that the authorities had accessed individuals' bank statements with no legal basis to do so, three Riigikogu committees have agreed to hold a joint meeting to discuss the issue on July 14.
Chair of the Riigikogu's Security Authorities Surveillance Select Committee Maris Lauri (Reform) said the Chancellor of Justice's Office had highlighted some very serious problems in the functioning of the enforcement register. The biggest of which is undoubtedly the access to account statements, whereby the law may have been broken and adequate supervision is not ensured.
"Due to the importance of the issue, I immediately consulted the chairs of the Finance and Legal Affairs committees upon receipt of the Chancellor of Justice's letter and, as chair of the Security Authorities Surveillance Select Committee, proposed a joint meeting of the committees," Lauri said.
According to the agreement, the joint session will take place on July 14 at the Riigikogu, with representatives of the Chancellor of Justice's Office, the Police and Border Guard Board (PPA), the Tax and Customs Board, the Financial Intelligence Unit and the Ministry of Justice all invited.
"Once the organizational issues of the session have been resolved, formal invitations will be sent out," Lauri said.
During an inspection, Chancellor of Justice Ülle Madise's Office found that the authorities had accessed the bank statements of account holders via the data exchange layer connected to the enforcement register, with no sufficient legal basis to do so. According to Madise, in just over a year, the state authorities have made tens of thousands of access requests to banks.
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Editor: Michael Cole, Marko Tooming
