Financial Risk:
Low
Score:
69/100
Asset Disposals
Q24
92/100
How effective are controls over the disposal of assets, and is information on these disposals, and the proceeds of their sale, transparent?
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There are regulations concerning the asset disposal process in the Ministry of Defence and its area of governance. The procedure is regulated in detail…
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The objects are not published on the ministry’s website, but instead, on a publicly available platform, where anyone can see the auctioned objects by…
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In Ametlikud Teadaanded the results of the public auctions are made public, including the financial data. [1] More precisely, within ten days after the…
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Q25
92/100
Is independent and transparent scrutiny of asset disposals conducted by defence establishments, and are the reports of such scrutiny publicly available?
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The State Asset Department at the Ministry of Finance manages the functioning and the policies of state assets in Estonia. [1] The Ministry of…
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The National Audit Office is an independent state body that assures the Riigikogu and the public that the funds of the public sector are…
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Annual audit reports published by the National Audit Office are made public on their website. [1] However, only in short summaries. The law does…
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Secret Budgets
Q26
25/100
What percentage of defence and security expenditure in the budget year is dedicated to spending on secret items relating to national security and the intelligence services?
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Nearly 45 million euros of “other operating expenses” were marked as state secret in the defence budget for 2019 [1]. In comparison, “other operating…
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Q27
75/100
Is the legislature (or the appropriate legislative committee or members of the legislature) given full information for the budget year on the spending of all secret items relating to national security and military intelligence?
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Protection of the information containing a state secret is regulated by State Secrets and Classified Information of Foreign States Act. [1] It stipulates that…
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Q28
100/100
Are audit reports of the annual accounts of the security sector (the military and intelligence services) subject to parliamentary debate?
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Annual account reports by the National Audit Office may include the legality of economic activities, economic transactions of the auditee and the performance with…
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The State Budget Control Select Committee of the Riigikogu has the right to summon officials and private persons and obtain oral and written explanations…
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Q29
42/100
In law, are off-budget military expenditures permitted, and if so, are they exceptional occurrences that are well-controlled? In practice, are there any off-budget military expenditures? If so, does evidence suggest this involves illicit economic activity?
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There is no off-budget military expenditure permitted – or even mentioned – by law. [1] However, the expenses incurred by the Estonian Defence League,…
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The Defence League publishes their annual reports since 2002. The expenses are reflected, but not in detail. For example, in 2017 the expenses included…
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The Defence League’s expenses are not included in the state budget, since legally it is a separate entity not governed by public law. The…
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Q30
63/100
Are mechanisms for accessing information from the defence sector effective?
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Information regarding or deriving from the Ministry of Defence falls under the category of public information. Access to defence-related information is hence stipulated in…
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This indicator is not assigned a score in the GDI. The Procedure for Protection of State Secrets and Classified Information of Foreign States stipulates…
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An investigative journalist and an expert in the field, Tarmo Vahter, has criticised how accessing information is becoming increasingly difficult in Estonia. In his…
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Q31
100/100
Do national defence and security institutions have beneficial ownership of commercial businesses? If so, how transparent are details of the operations and finances of such businesses?
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For the performance of its tasks the Defence League has the right to enter into contracts; build training area and sports facilities; provide accommodation…
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This indicator has been marked Not Applicable. National defence and security institutions do not have beneficial ownership of commercial businesses
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Military-owned Businesses
Q32
75/100
Are military-owned businesses subject to transparent independent scrutiny at a recognised international standard?
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In accordance with the Military Service Act, an active public servant was not allowed to engage in business activity until very recently. [1] However,…
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All annual reports of the Defence League have been made public since 2002. However, the internal audit reports are not public. [1] The National…
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Illegal Private Enterprise
Q33
38/100
Is there evidence of unauthorised private enterprise by military or other defence ministry employees? If so, what is the government’s reaction to such enterprise?
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It was forbidden for servicemen to conduct business activities until July 2018. [1] However, the Military Service Act was recently amended and conducting business…
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At the legislative level, private enterprise was only recently, in July 2018, allowed for military personnel. [1,2] The government does not impose any barriers…
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Actual Military Spending
Q77
63/100
Is comprehensive data on actual spending on defence published during the budget year?
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The Ministry of Finance (MOF) proactively publishes monthly reports on the execution of the state budget, including for defence spending. [1] While information on…
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Details on actual defence spending are provided in an aggregated form. The reports available on the MOF website only provide information on the overall…
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Details of actual defence spending are published regularly and in a timely manner. As of December 2018, the MOF has published four reports on…
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The difference between the published budget and actual spending is published and available for the public in an Excel document format. The differences are…
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