On September 16 appeared in Pealinn Online an interview with me, based on the following opinion:
Since Estonia’s independence was restored, the most spectacular scandals involving money have been with members of the Reform Party starting with the disappearance of 10 million US dollars when Siim Kallas was the president of the Bank of Estonia to the recent arrest of Reform Party member Allan Kiil, who is suspected of taking large bribes over the years as an executive at the Port of Tallinn. Into this framework fits the VEB fond scandal that the business newspaper Äripäev has named corruption at the highest levels of the State of Estonia. In its 24.07.2014 editorial, the newspaper stated, “The presidents of the Bank of Estonia, Siim Kallas, Vahur Kraft and Andres Lipstok have abused their official position and destroyed the reputation of the Bank of Estonia by lying to the parliament and the nation, covering up for each other and not reporting the criminal deeds.”
More than three years ago, Reform Party member Silver Meikar confessed that he had donated to Reform Party’s treasury money that did not belong to him nor did he know its origin. This scandal became popularly known as “the plastic bag story” and now we learn that the current scandal at the Port of Tallinn involves money delivered in plastic bags for years to the Party’s coffers.
In the current Port of Tallinn scandal, Siim Kallas sees privatization as a solution to the problem. In recent days the media has advanced his opinion on this subject and in his article in the weekly Eesti Ekspress, Kallas states that electric companies, ports, and airports are privatized in all western countries.
Considering the Port of Tallinn as an item for privatization, it has to be said that Siim Kallas is mistaken because not all ports in the western countries are privatized. A glance at the websites of the ports in the Baltic Sea region gives the following picture:
The Port of Helsinki is a public utility owned by the City of Helsinki.
The ports in Stockholm are administered by the Ports of Stockholm Group, comprised of the parent company Stockholms Hamn AB and its subsidiaries Nynäshamns Hamn AB, Nynäshamns Mark AB and Kapellskärs Hamn AB. Stockholms Hamn AB is fully owned by the City of Stockholm. Nynäshamns Hamn AB is a wholly owned subsidiary. Nynäshamns Mark AB is 50 percent owned by Stockholms Hamn AB and 50 percent owned by the Municipality of Nynäshamn. Kapellskärs Hamn AB is 91 percent owned by Stockholms Hamn AB with the remaining nine percent owned by the Municipality of Norrtälje.
In Copenhagen the port is part of a Danish-Swedish joint venture that includes the port of Malmö. The company is named the Copenhagen Malmö Port which is partly owned by the City of Copenhagen and the City of Malmö, the states of Denmark and Sweden, and about a quarter of the shares is privately owned.
Not much information is in the Internet about the port at Riga. It does state that it is managed by the Freeport of Riga Authority and most probably, it means that the port is city owned.
Regarding the port in Gdansk, Poland, it is not in private ownership. The Port of Gdansk Authority is a joint stock company, partly owned by the State Treasury, the City of Gdansk, and entitled employees.
The picture that emerges about the ownership of the ports in the Baltic Sea region is one that includes municipal and state resources, and private funds to a certain extent. It would behoove Estonia to consider such a formula for its enterprises. The problem in Estonia is political. For years, the power structure at Toompea has appointed members to the boards and executive offices of the state’s major companies without giving any consideration to the appointees ethical character. Most of the problems at these companies would not exist if competent people with ethical standards were in the executive offices and board rooms.
