TALLINN — Advisers from the prime minister’s office have suggested selling off state-owned companies such as the
Lennart Meri Tallinn Airport and the state railway company in a bid for cash and heightened transparency.

Kalev Kukk, economic adviser to the Estonian prime minister told Estonian daily Äripäev that the state could earn billions of krooni from the transactions as well as producing jobs and making the companies more efficient.

“The state can’t and shouldn’t be an entrepreneur, but a judge who guarantees fair game on the market. Being a player and a judge at the same time isn’t the most honest activity,” Kukk said. “Exceptions are companies which are clearly monopolies, such as transmission networks. But I wouldn’t list Tallinn Airport among those companies nor Estonian Railways, which is in so-called factory railway status.”

Kukk told Baltic Reports that the suggestions were only ideas at the moment and would probably take months to reach parliaments. While the country was not in the position to drive a hard bargain, the move would be expected to produce long-term jobs for the Estonians. Several models have been suggested for the privatization plans including listing the companies on the stock exchange and privatizing them partially.

When asked about the potential corruption in the deals, Kukk told Baltic Reports “this won’t be a problem, there is a supervisory board … it is a functioning system.”

However, recent sales of publicly-owned companies in Estonia have not been free of graft. Late last year the Public Prosecutor’s Office charged former member of parliament Villu Reijan with asking for substantial bribe when selling a government property to Wipestrex Group in 2006.

Olari Taal, a former member of the parliament and ex-banker was supportive of the idea to privatize the companies saying that the supervisory boards are often not sufficient. “The state is most certainly a bad owner. Not all, but most of the politicians sitting in supervisory board are too incompetent for that job,” Taal said in Äripäev.

Some experts have dissented though, saying that any move made purely for short term monetary gains would be foolish.