The criminal proceedings over Laanet's fraud charge concluded on Monday at Harju County Court, news portal Delfi reports.

Under Estonian law, a financial penalty cannot be awarded for a fraud conviction. Instead, Prosecutor Olgerd Petersell said Laanet would be handed a prison sentence, which would be suspended. The MP would only have to serve his sentence in a detention center if he committed another crime during that time.

The court will issue its decision in Laanet's criminal case in February.

The prosecutor's office has charged Laanet with knowingly submitting claims in 2022 and 2023 for reimbursement of rental expenses based on a contract concluded with a related person.

The rental agreement Laanet submitted had been signed with a private limited company whose owner and sole board member was his stepson, though this was not clear from the submitted documentation.

Since officials at the Office of the Riigikogu and the Ministry of Justice were unaware of the connection and had no means of verifying it, Laanet allegedly received unlawful reimbursements of more than €13,000 in housing rent.

The Riigikogu lifted Laanet's parliamentary immunity in May so he could face the charges in court.

At the time, Laanet told the Riigikogu he had never intended to claim anything from the state he was not entitled to, and that he had never concealed who he was renting the apartment from, adding all rental contracts had been submitted to the ministries and to the Riigikogu office.

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