Prosecutors in Estonia are looking into the activities of several former senior executives at Nordica (ND, Tallinn Lennart Meri) to determine whether there was any criminal activity related to the flag carrier’s dire finances, the business newspaper Ärileht reported. Pretrial proceedings are currently underway.
The criminal proceedings were launched on February 26, an official at the District Prosecutor's Office for Economic Crime and Corruption, Daniel Toom, confirmed to national broadcaster ERR. According to him, the proceedings were launched on the grounds of “an abuse of trust”, and he added that the investigation will try to determine if anyone intentionally caused economic losses at the state-owned airline.
Ärileht reported that at the end of 2022, Nordica's management included Jan Palmér (CEO) and Eteri Harring (CFO). The company also had a supervisory board whose members were David James O'Brock-Kaljuvee (supervisory board chair), Priit Karjus, Camiel Eurlings, Kaupo Raag, and Taivo Linnamägi.
The move from the prosecutor’s office comes after a Ministry of Climate-initiated probe deducted that mismanagement caused Nordica’s financial difficulties. That report, conducted by consulting firm EY and law firm Fort, was not enough to prove criminal misconduct as prosecutors said it was too general. But it did persuade the Estonian government to sell Nordica.
In February, the government approved Nordica’s privatisation. However, the sale was suspended in April after the Ministry of Climate, which is in charge of the airline, stressed that talks with two companies had ended in unsatisfactory financial bids, which also included unsuitable additional terms.
