Businessman on wanted list: No need for 'state manhunt'
An expat Estonian businessman has said he does not need to be subject to a "manhunt," and can both be contacted by authorities and has himself tried to contact those authorities.
The Police and Border Guard Board (PPA) on Saturday declared Oliver Kruuda wanted in relation to alleged economic crimes and a debt amounting to €15 million.
Kruuda later on Saturday said this was unnecessary, adding officials can directly contact him. Kruuda also requested media attention be drawn to this.
"I note with deep regret. I do not understand why an Estonian person is stigmatized like this," he said, calling his treatment unfair.
Kruuda added that he is aware of Estonian law, and that declaring a person wanted is an "extreme measure" which should be preceded by other steps such as attempts to deliver notices and summons. Without this, trust in the state and its institutions will be eroded, he noted.
Kruuda has been living outside Estonia, reportedly in Ireland, for several years, he noted. "I have not lived or been in Estonia for more than five years," Kruuda said, adding that in 2021 he had informed the first-tier Tartu County Court that he has no registered permanent address in Estonia.
He then asked the PPA's North Prefecture Criminal Bureau to contact him at time of its convenience, adding his email can easily be found and is always monitored. He said that he had contacted the PPA directly, and that he also has a contractual representative in Estonia, but that the PPA had not made any attempt to contact him via this intermediary either.
Kruuda requested his name and photo be deleted from the national wanted database, and said his willingness to cooperate was demonstrated by Judge Marju Persidskaja and Prosecutor Jane Pajus in court discussions at the Tartu County Court. Kruuda also said the actual suspicions filed against him, including in respect of a €15 million debt claim against him, are false, adding this had come from firm Best Idea OÜ and businessman Marcel Vichmann and that he did not owe them anything.
The PPA declared Kruuda, 58, wanted on November 20, after authorities failed to establish his whereabouts. This relates to suspected economic crime, though officials have not disclosed details. Kruuda previously held majority stakes in several prominent Estonian firms, mostly in the food industry. In 2020 he had been convicted of providing false information on his 2015–2016 tax declarations. He relocated to Ireland the same year, while in 2021, Tartu District Court declared him personally bankrupt, following a petition by Best Idea OÜ. The bankruptcy stemmed from Kruuda's alleged failure to pay a €15 million court-ordered debt to Vichmann's company. Criminal proceedings connected to Kruuda were terminated in 2024 due to a statute of limitations, though new investigations have since emerged.
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Editor: Andrew Whyte, Johanna Alvin
