Estonian businessman Vjatšeslav Leedo declared in his final statement at the Pärnu County Court on Wednesday that money which he moved out of his shipping company remained in the group which he owned and that it is not possible to steal from oneself by transferring money from one pocket to another, Postimees has reported.
Based in Saaremaa, the businessman is accused of pillaging the Saaremaa Shipping company of assets when it became clear that the company was about to lose the business of running subsidised ferries between the mainland and Estonia’s largest islands.
“I want to confirm that our activities were nothing like the image which the prosecutor is trying to create here about our long-term activities and ideas,” Leedo said. “Our activities were aimed at shutting down the Saaremaa Shipping Company with dignity and then moving on to other areas of business. It was never our intention to default on our creditors.”
The businessman went on to say that there was never any doubt that if there were a dispute that was resolved to the detriment of the Saaremaa Shipping Company, the money would have been paid.
“A guarantee of this was an entry in the 2016 financial report of Holostovi Kinnisvarahaldus, which is now being ridiculed,” Leedo said. “It was written there that the Saaremaa Shipping Company would be supported according to its needs.”
The Saaremaa Shipping Company purchased 12 shares in Holostovi Kinnisvarahaldus AS for EUR 5.2 million in 2016. Vjatšeslav Leedo is the sole owner of both firms. He was indicted for damaging the economic condition of the Saaremaa Shipping Company by ding this, because only liquid assets or money would make it all but impossible to market or sell the shares against completely illiquid shares.
Leedo argued that there is the concept of a beneficial owner in Estonian law, and in this case, the solvency of the company that was owned by the beneficial owner and the solvency of another company which belonged to the same beneficial owner increased.
“It is not possible to steal from yourself by moving money from one pocket to another,” Leedo declared. “These accusations would be justified if we had removed some of the assets and place them, for instance, in an offshore company, but the fact is that the money remained in the same place and in the accounts of the same group.”
Leedo completed his statement by saying that he was leaving the issue up to the court: “If you decide that I am guilty, please understand that my staff only followed my instructions, and all of those decisions were mine and mine alone. I will not run away from responsibility.”
Lennart Viikmaa was formerly a member of the supervisory board at the Saaremaa Shipping Company, and he declared in his final statement before the court that his role was largely a formality. This was confirmed by several witnesses during the trial. Viikmaa described how he became a member of the board by saying that in 2014, he was hired by the Saaremaa Shipping Company’s ticket centre, where his duties included organising ticket sales and access systems.
“In January 2015, Vjatšeslav Leedo invited me to join the supervisory board of the Saaremaa Shipping Company because a previous member had resigned, and the position needed to be filled,” Viikmaa testified. “Leedo said that it was just a formality.” He added that the entire management and support of the Saaremaa Shipping Company operated in Saaremaa, while he was living and working in Tallinn.
“In summary, I did not prepare or initiate any of the actions that are covered by the indictment, and my connection to them is merely a formality,” Viikmaa said. “The decision-maker was always Vjatšeslav Leedo, and all decisions were carried out by the board.” Viikmaa added that he did not have the skills to carry out transactions that were described in the indictment.
Viikmaa also testified that it was repeatedly claimed in 2016 that the Saaremaa Shipping Company was in dire financial straits, but he could not confirm that on the basis of what he himself knew. The ferry service between the mainland and the islands was taken away from the company, but it was taking part in several bids for tender in new areas of activity.
“They were looking at timber transport and wind farms,” Viikmaa said. “I did not get the sense that the company was doomed.”
Former Saaremaa Shipping Company board members Tõnis Rihvk and Grete Kundrats were also indicted, but did not submit a final statement. The court has said that it will issue its ruling on December 10.
Prosecutors are accusing the owner of the Saaremaa Shipping Company, Vjatšeslav Leedo, board members Tõnis Rihvk and Grete Kundrats, and a member of the supervisory board of deliberately worsening the company’s economic situation. AS Holostovi Kinnisvarahaldus, another company belonging to Leedo, has also been charged in the indictment as a legal entity.
According to the indictment, the defendants stripped the Saaremaa Shipping Company of its assets in early 2016, when it was clear that its subsidiary, Väinamere Liinid, would not be granted any further government contracts for operating subsidised ferry services between the mainland and Estonia’s largest western islands, with the business instead being taken over by TS Laevad, a subsidiary of Tallinna Sadam – a company which at that time was fully state-owned.
Source: BNS
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