President Rüütel inherited the abovementioned shares from his parents who, by these shares, had been compensated for their collectivised property. The President's relationship with the PLC Audla has been nominal only: he has neither expected nor received any returns on his share in the business and, therefore, not regarded it as an economic interest.
As his registered immovable property, President Rüütel now declared returned land in the same municipality having belonged to his parents, the registration order of which was made only after he had submitted his declaration of economic interests.
The President also informed of his economic interests the Security Police Board, who did not deem it necessary to impose penalties prescribed by the Anti-corruption Act, but confined itself to an oral warning for having submitted incomplete data in the declarations that are to be disclosed in the cases prescribed by law.
The President explained this regrettable omission in declaring his economic interests by his human inattentiveness. "I deem law-abidingness extremely important and, in this context, it does not matter how the given property was obtained, how large it is, or whether it has been used in practice," President Arnold Rüütel said.
Office of the President
Kadriorg, October 22, 2003
