The Prosecutor's Office has appealed to the Supreme Court to overturn a May Tallinn Circuit Court decision and reinstate the original Harju County Court ruling, which found Laanet, also a former justice minister, guilty of fraud in claiming rental expenses on a Tallinn apartment. The case mainly concerned the nature of relationships, as the apartment's ultimate owner was Laanet's stepson, and whether the MP had intended to commit fraud when he made the claims, some of them while he was a government minister.

"In our assessment, the guilty verdict handed down by the Harju County Court was well-founded. We also agree with several aspects of the Tallinn Court of Appeal's ruling," prosecutor Olgerd Petersell told Õhtuleht.

"For instance, the circuit court found that the child of a public official's spouse is a related person under the Anti-Corruption Act, and that the wording of the relevant provision is sufficiently clear and understandable. The court also found that declaring the absence of a related person in the submitted forms constituted deception, and that Kalle Laanet in so doing inflicted financial damage on the state. However, we disagree with the circuit court's conclusion that Laanet was unaware, as a member of the Riigikogu and later as minister of justice, of the specific legal provision whose compliance he had validated. In our view, the evidence proves beyond reasonable doubt that Laanet knew the content of that provision," the prosecutor added, referring to the lynchpin of Laanet's defense.

Petersell added that if the Supreme Court declines to reverse the circuit court's decision, the Prosecutor's Office requests the case be sent back to the circuit court for a new hearing.

Harju County Court originally handed Laanet, a former justice minister and former defense minister, a one-year, four-month suspended prison sentence.

The case concerned 2022–2023 reimbursement claims for renting a Tallinn apartment from a company owned by his stepson, a relationship officials were unaware of when the claims were made. Laanet had received about €13,000 in housing reimbursements from the Ministry of Justice and the Riigikogu Office.

While the circuit court agreed that the stepson qualified as a related party under the Anti-Corruption Act, it ruled that Laanet's reimbursement rules did not depend on whether the landlord was a related party. The court also found that while Laanet had failed to properly understand the law, prosecutors had not proven he intended to deceive officials, meaning the threshold for fraud had not been met.

The circuit court also ordered the state to pay Laanet over €36,500 to cover legal costs.

Laanet denied any wrongdoing and claimed the prosecution was acting in a retaliatory manner over actions he took while justice minister.

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Laanet, 60, was defense minister 2021-2022 and justice minister 2023-2024. He is a sitting Reform Party MP.

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