Estonian Prime Minister Juri Ratas said on Wednesday he was stepping down after his Centre Party came under investigation for corruption linked to a property development company.
His resignation brings down the country ’ s centre – right coalition government that also includes a far -right party, but new elections are unlikely.
President Kersti Kaljulaid now has 14 days to name a new prime minister who would then have to be approved by parliament .
“ Today I made a decision to resign as prime minister, ” Ratas, who is the chairman of the party, said in a Facebook post following an hours -long party board meeting.
Ratas said he hoped his resignation would help “ shed light on all the circumstances and reach clarity ” but insisted that he had not made “ any malicious or knowingly wrong decisions” .
The investigation centres around a property company called Porto Franco which received a large state loan and struck a lucrative deal with city authorities in the capital Tallinn whose mayor is also from the party.
The owner of the company’ s father , businessman Hillar Teder , donated large sums to the Centre Party.
“ As head of government , I did not feel in the case of Porto Franco that any minister or party had tried to sway the government ’ s decisions in an illegal direction , ” Ratas said in his statement .
Among other suspects in the corruption investigation is Kersti Kracht, an adviser to Finance Minister Martin Helme from the far – right EKRE party.
The resignation could scupper plans for a controversial same-sex marriage referendum the coalition had been planning to hold this spring .
AFP
