Kovalenko-Kõlvart: State Enterprise Leaders' Interests Are Politically Hidden

Anastassia Kovalenko-Kõlvart, chair of the Riigikogu's anti-corruption special committee, believes that a political decision has been made at the level of the finance minister to conceal the financial interests of state-owned company leaders. As a result, the public lacks access to interest declarations of the leaders of Rail Baltic Estonia, RMK, Elering, Tallinn Port, and Tallinn Airport. Kovalenko-Kõlvart raises the issue in connection with the earlier Nordica case.

Riigikogu anti-corruption special committee chair Anastassia Kovalenko-Kõlvart (Centre Party of Estonia) has raised a serious concern: in her assessment, a political decision has been made at the level of the finance minister to keep the financial interests of state-owned company leaders hidden from public view.

What do the declarations conceal?

According to Kovalenko-Kõlvart, this means in practice that citizens and oversight bodies have no ability to review the interest declarations of the leaders of Rail Baltic Estonia, RMK, Elering, Tallinn Port, or Tallinn Airport. These are companies backed by the state whose operations directly affect public funds and strategic decisions.

The committee chair emphasises that the problem is not new, it emerged during the Nordica case, when the special committee attempted to clarify the airline company leaders' financial ties and interests. This experience showed that the current system does not allow for sufficient transparency and oversight.

Lack of transparency in state enterprises

From an anti-corruption standpoint, the disclosure of leaders' interests is one of the most important tools. If state enterprise leaders do not have to declare their financial interests in the same manner as public sector officials, there is a risk that conflicts of interest may go unnoticed.

Kovalenko-Kõlvart sees this as a systemic gap that would require political will to close at the finance ministry level as well. In her view, the current situation is inconsistent with public sector transparency principles.