SDE chair: I paid for services out of savings I kept in cash
Social Democratic Party (SDE) chair Lauri Läänemets, said payments made for editing services in 2021 had come from his personal savings, which he had kept in cash.
Läänemets was accused in the media by Egle Heinsar, a former SDE member now running for Isamaa in the October local elections, of paying €5,000 euros in cash for the services, the implication being that this was a "brown paper envelope" payment.
Heinsar said Läänemets told her at the time that payment would come from sponsors, while the SDE chair has said payment of taxes for services rendered is the responsibility of that service provider.
"We had good cooperation with Egle for a long time before she went to Isamaa (Heinsar is not a member of Isamaa, but is running on its list in the upcoming local elections – ed.). Everything that Egle provided as a service through her company was properly paid for," said Läänemets told ERR Friday.
Läänemets rejected the sums of money Heinsar referenced.
"The sums which I personally purchased a service from her for were many times smaller than she is now claiming. Since previously there had been local elections (in October 2021 – ed.), and active campaigning is often quite costly for the leader of a list, I used my savings to pay, which a part of was indeed in cash," he went on.
"Egle has said that she has paid the taxes received for this service. If income tax has been paid for the service, then it is not an envelope wage, as she is trying to claim," the SDE leader continued.
Läänemets reiterated a statement he made on Thursday, that paying taxes is the obligation of the service provider, ie. the payee rather than payor. He also questioned the timing of the issue being made public, ie. a month before the local elections.
"I fail to understand what the hope is to achieve with all this, as paying taxes is the service provider's obligation. And furthermore, why are we talking about this three years later, just before the elections," said Läänemets.
Õhuleht wrote, citing Heinsar, who was previously an SDE member, that in 2021, prior to being SDE chair or interior minister, Läänemets paid €5,000 cash for editing services carried out by Heinsar.
Heinsar told the newspaper that she agreed personally with Läänemets that she would be paid €1,000 net for part-time work.
"The payment was supposed to come from sponsors, whose persons or companies were not revealed to me," Heinsar said, adding that the project offer transformed into one "working off the books" when its start date, September 1 of 2021, drew near.
On Friday Heinsar told ERR that Läänemets recruited her to work as a contractor, though no contract had been drawn up.
Läänemets was elected SDE chair in February 2022 and was interior minister July 2022 to March of this year, when SDE left office.
--
Editor: Andrew Whyte, Mari Peegel
