Estonian ruling party rejects US businessman's bribery claim |
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Thu, 18 Jan 2007 15:42
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TALLINN (AFX) - The ruling party in Estonia rejected allegations by a US businessman that it asked for a 1 mln eur bribe to facilitate a deal to return the Baltic state's railway company to state ownership.Prime Minister Andrus Ansip, who heads the Reform Party, said the accusation was 'groundless', while other party officials said it was aimed at derailing the ruling party from its front-runner position, six weeks before Estonia's March 4 parliamentary elections.Yesterday, Edward Burkhardt, chief executive of a consortium that bought a two-thirds stake in Estonian Railways five years ago, said in an interview on Estonian television that the Reform Party had asked for 1 mln eur (1.3 mln usd) to ensure the state buy-back of the railway was successful.Burkhardt said he had not been approached personally but his Estonian colleagues had been and that they had refused.In November 2006, the Estonian authorities agreed to pay 2.35 bln kroons (150 mln eur) to buy back a 66-percent stake from Burkhardt's Baltic Rail Services (BRS) consortium, which had taken over Estonian Railways five years earlier.BRS had paid 1 bln kroons to acquire its controlling stake in the railway.The termination of the deal was initiated by the Estonian state, which accused Baltic Rail Services of failing to fulfil its privatisation obligations.Estonia has been ranked the most corruption-free country in central and eastern Europe by international fraud watchdog Transparency International.newsdesk@afxnews.comafp/vlbCOPYRIGHTCopyright AFX News Limited 2006. All rights reserved.The copying, republication or redistribution of AFX News Content, including by framing or similar means, is expressly prohibited without the prior written consent of AFX News.AFX News and AFX Financial News Logo are registered trademarks of AFX News Limited
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