Estonia’s former minister of Education and Research and member of Parliament Mailis Reps has been charged with embezzlement of ministry funds for her own needs.
Estonian public broadcaster ERR reports.
The Estonian prosecutor’s office believes that from 2016 to 2020, Mailis Reps instructed ministry employees to carry out childcare duties for her children. The ex-official was also charged with illegal coverage of transport costs and holding Reps’s birthday party at the ministry’s premises for budgetary funds.
In addition, Mailis Reps was charged with fraud. The ministry bought a coffee machine for Reps’ home.
The charges point to approximately 7,500 euros being misused.
The case came after newspaper Õhtuleht published a story alleging the misused of ministry money last year. Amid the scandal, Reps resigned.
At the end of October, the Estonian parliament of the Riigikogu stripped Mailis Reps of parliamentary immunity so court proceedings could be started.
