In April, Delfi reported a leak suggesting that the Prosecutor's Office was preparing to bring charges against the Isamaa party related to its finances, but even now in November, we still don't know any more. It's presumably about the funding of the NGO Isamaalised and the likely financier was Parvel Pruunsild. The NGO's goal was to push out the Parempoolsed splinter group's ideas from Isamaa. Have you spoken to the Prosecutor's Office about this?

I've never had any discussions on that topic. All of this actually stems from what's known as the ERM (Estonian National Museum –ed.) court case. There was a notorious file — File No. 4 (the file contained NGO Isamaalised documents – ed.) and while my lawyer said it was completely irrelevant, we understood very well that it was, in fact, the real deal.

The whole ERM building case was actually just a cover for surveillance, to get access to my affairs and collect information. They haven't even needed to talk to me, because they've had all the information the entire time.

Have you calculated how many thousands of euros you contributed to that nonprofit organization?

I haven't. But Lavly Perling* clearly has. (Former Prosecutor General Lavly Perling ran for the leadership of Isamaa in 2021 but lost to Helir-Valdor Seeder, 784 votes to 367; she was later expelled from the party along with her allies and went on to found the party Parempoolsed – ed.) When they filed a complaint on behalf of Parempoolsed calling for an investigation into Isamaa's affairs, of course she had calculated those sums. I haven't, but that information has been available to the ISS and the Prosecutor's Office for years. These were all transfers that are easily verifiable.

You must remember some specific transfers — surely they didn't ask you to wire just a couple hundred euros. We're probably talking about thousands. Under the Penal Code, a prohibited donation of a large scale starts at €40,000.

The amounts are definitely larger than that, but there's just one problem: there's nothing illegal about any of it.

How were the funds transferred? You made a bank transfer, it was recorded — there was no handing over of cash or anything shady like that?

When I made a transfer, I was supporting the NGO and of course there's a full record of that. It was an active period of conflict when Lavly Perling was trying to take over Isamaa, so it was necessary to take action on my part to support the people and the structure that stood against that.

Did party members internally know the scale of the sums being discussed? Where did Lavly Perling get that information?

Definitely not. But Lavly Perling gets her information from other sources — she's probably one of the most well-informed people in Estonia. She knew, just like she knew about Johanna-Maria Lehtme's activities before that scandal broke. Perling has given orders to the ISS about how things should be handled and what needs to be done. She meets with high-ranking internal security officials, even though she hasn't been prosecutor general for a long time. She spoke with the head of the ISS's southern unit, Jaanus Kann, about my case — the ERM building case — which Kann also confirmed in court. So I believe Lavly Perling is a very well-informed person when it comes to this matter.

How do you know she met with ISS officials?

I have information that in January 2022, she met with high-ranking ISS officials. At that time, the internal conflict within Isamaa was just starting to heat up — she had lost the internal leadership election, but they were already up to new tricks.

Have you considered taking Lavly Perling to court? You've taken similar steps against others in the past.

I don't have any concrete facts. I only have circumstantial evidence.

Why was it even necessary to set up a nonprofit organization? You could have just supported those party members directly who were fighting to maintain the direction within Isamaa that aligned with your views.

I don't remember exactly — it was somehow connected to a Facebook group. In any case, at the time we did everything we could to prevent Perling and Parempoolsed from gaining ground.

Speaking of leaks, it's not very believable that the Prosecutor's Office itself would have thrown those allegations into the public eye — there's not much point in that. It's more likely the leak came from elsewhere. My finger really wants to point at a politician, but my mind tells it that's pure speculation. The only ones who stand to benefit from casting this kind of shadow are Isamaa's political rivals, from EKRE to the Social Democrats. At the same time, representatives of the coalition parties probably have a better grasp of what the Prosecutor's Office is up to...

That's definitely the case and they were definitely informed. But I wouldn't rule out looking at the channel through which the information was released: in Estonia, there's a clear pattern that this kind of information typically flows only through Delfi.

But "Pealtnägija" on ERR has also cooperated with them. When the information comes out through Delfi, it seems like there's a direct line. How and by whom exactly it gets distributed is another question, but we've seen a lot of this in the Republic of Estonia. It's a pattern that I've definitely noticed.

And the investigation is being led by Taavi Pern?

That's quite something, considering Taavi Pern was clearly involved in the ERM case too, though he claimed he wasn't, he got caught. He forgot to remove his own details from the original document he used to file the appeal and that's how it came out that he was actually the one who submitted it.

And then — was it this fall or sometime recently? — he announces with a big smile that he's now joined the investigation into what he calls the improper financing of Isamaa. That's truly ironic. He even stated that he has a strong internal conviction to proceed with the case.

But Pern is someone who's been caught lying in court multiple times. As far as I know, he was even removed from one trial. And now I'm supposed to take this man's "inner conviction" seriously? People like that would actually go to jail in America. It's pretty outrageous, the way this system operates.

These materials clearly originate from the criminal case involving the student corporation Sakala's building purchase — there's no doubt about that?

Absolutely. Even if they now claim they submitted requests and reviewed the bank transfers only later, that's not believable in real life. All that information was already available during the operation. Since I was considered a security threat under the Internal Security Act, or JASS, they carried out completely uncontrolled surveillance on me. They've had absolutely everything about me from the very beginning.

Do you believe your activities are being watched just as closely now as before?

I can't be sure they're not listening to this conversation right now. We can't rule out the possibility that, under that same JASS, there's some third criminal case or something else involving me. If we look at the ERM case, their approach is very creative: they use an extremely broad brush and are perfectly capable of accusing people.

I take it you will not stop donating to Isamaa? In the third quarter, you gave another €100,000.

Of course not, because that was one of their original goals — to intimidate me. By the way, even well-meaning people advised me, saying: "Listen, Parvel, maybe stop giving money and they'll leave you alone." But I can't give in to people like Perling and Pern.

The way this system operates is truly appalling. You need to have very strong nerves and enough financial resources to be able to defend yourself in a situation like this.

What do you think is the ISS's motivation here or where does it come from?

I believe the motivation stems from the fact that Lavly Perling failed to take over Isamaa. And of course, accusing Isamaa is very convenient for the political forces currently in power.

So I think it's quite human, really — Perling has the opportunity, Pern was likely appointed by her and all those prosecutors working on the case are part of the same system. And if that system can be used with complete impunity, then why wouldn't they use it? No one is even questioning Lavly Perling about any of this.

If all this is now behind you and the criminal case has been resolved — for both you and the party — do you plan to take legal action against the Prosecutor's Office and the ISS over how the case was handled?

In that case, I would need to have solid evidence. But I think if they don't succeed with this one, they'll just come up with a new case. As I've said before: the sky is the limit.

Since they face no consequences, they can do whatever they want. The entire ERM process showed how surveillance was carried out. ISS officers were on site, we filed complaints and even the first-instance judge said it was a case of abuse of agent operations.

But the Prosecutor's Office systematically dismisses everything, because these people are absolutely untouchable. As long as they remain untouchable, lower courts won't take up these cases either, because it's clear that many of those poor judges are under their influence.

The best example of this is the case of Kalle Laanet: if you're on the "right" side, everything's kosher — renting an apartment is no problem. But the moment you land on the "wrong" side, suddenly you're a criminal. I don't know what kind of files the ISS or others might have stashed away on various politicians, but I fear they do.

For years I've heard similar messages and excuses coming from EKRE, but EKRE hasn't been taken seriously on this front for a long time. A simple example: they say e‑voting is rigged and that the Riigikogu is essentially illegitimate, yet they keep sitting comfortably in Toompea. But when the biggest donor of Estonia's most popular party, Isamaa, says similar things, it sounds quite alarming.

In the past, I also thought EKRE was exaggerating — their style is to escalate. But since I've been dragged through the same gauntlet, I see it all and just how arrogantly law enforcement behaves.

When the ISS got caught surveilling me and doing everything else, I thought they wouldn't have the nerve to still come forward with this financing case. But they don't care — they just push on. The case involving Kert Kingo and many others is completely fabricated.

Nothing ever happens to the Reform Party. Even the Lehtme case was taken up reluctantly: the prosecutor actually said — this floored me — that "it could have been handled better." It was obvious the prosecutor wasn't interested — "for heaven's sake, let's just get this over with."

But when something needs to be done against Isamaa, they go all in and then Pern comes along and declares he has an "inner conviction."

I always thought the important thing in the Republic of Estonia was the law. Now the decisive factor is the "inner conviction" of one man who himself has been caught falsifying and lying. And he gets to act on that. What is this?

You have no idea what they're going to ask you tomorrow?

Absolutely none — because they already have all the answers. By the way, I'd remind you of my interrogation in the ERM case, where I was genuinely stunned by the kinds of questions they asked.

My defense attorney, Paul Keres, put it very well afterward: they didn't actually want to learn anything from you, because there wasn't a single question like, "What does this mean?" All I could say was, "You can already see everything yourselves."

They've had 100 percent of the information for a very long time. This is all just a farce, a performance. Now we're in Act Two — Lavly Perling's revenge, part two.

The Tartu Circuit Court is expected to issue a ruling in the Sakala building purchase case by December 5. Are you prepared for the possibility of a guilty verdict?

Honestly, no. I attended the hearings myself and I still believe in the rule of law. I understand that what's happening in the Prosecutor's Office and the ISS camp is very troubling.

But I still have hope that the courts in the Republic of Estonia, especially the circuit court and the Supreme Court, are functioning properly. I hope that the system truly works in the interest of the people. But that doesn't help many, because in Estonia there's a tendency for the legal process itself to become the punishment: the process is how a person gets broken and worn down.

Still, I can't bring myself to fear a guilty verdict, because I know I haven't done anything wrong — legally or morally — whether in the ERM case or in the current financing matter.

Within Isamaa, have you discussed how to handle all of this? Are you trying to speak out as much as possible or is it more about enduring it and waiting to see where things lead? Do you have a strategy?

No, we don't. I have my own strategy and the public already knows what it is. My strategy has always been to tell the truth — how things actually happen and how I personally feel — because I haven't done anything wrong.

How others behave and how the party responds depends on their own inner sense, their character and who knows what else.

* ERR has offered Lavly Perling the chance to comment, which will be published as soon possible.

--

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