Opposition deputies in Kohtla-Järve have started coalition negotiations in the wake of a corruption scandal which engulfed the majority of leading city government figures and coalition councilors in the eastern Estonian city. So far, the potential new coalition has 10 people assembled out of a required 13, while the opposition has tabled no fewer than six motions of no-confidence.
Six more people have been declared suspects in a Police and Border Guard Board (PPA) investigation into a corruption scandal which has engulfed the city government and council in the eastern Estonian town of Kohtla-Järve.
Electoral alliances taking part in the October 2021 local elections in the eastern Estonian towns of Kohtla-Järve and Jõhvi obtained discounts of well over 90 percent when placing campaign ads in a local free paper owned by a businessman in the town who is at the center of the corruption case which started to unfold last week.
Two Kohtla-Järve deputy mayors suspected of corruption have refused requests from Mayor Toomas Nael to resign by a deadline which had been set for this Tuesday. The opposition in Kohtla-Järve is now planning to dismiss the entire city administration.