OREANDA-NEWS. September 13, 2012. AS Tallinna Vesi sent an official inquiry to Minister Parts concerning the Head of the Competition Authority Mr Mart Ots' inconsistent application of regulatory methods, which casts significant doubts on the allegations made by the Competition Authority against AS Tallinna Vesi.

On 24th of August 2012, the newspaper Postimees published a pertinent article, written by Tuuli Koch, detailing the practices used by the CA when regulating Kunda Elamu, where from 2002 until 2007 Mr Ots was one of the owners of the company.

From the evidence presented in this article and additional information on the website www.kohalik.info, it is clear that in Kunda many of the completely inaccuarate allegations used to declare AS Tallinna Vesi's international privatisation contract illegal, were clearly allowed, and perhaps even encouraged in the in the case of Kunda. This is even more pertinent, given the fact that Mr Ots had a significant conflict of interest in Kunda, where he has personal business interests (selling the assets of Kunda Elamu), and professional public service interests (Head of the Energy Market Inspectorate) in setting tariffs for the citizens of Kunda.

Given the magnitude of these matters, especially given their importance to the public interest and the legitimate expectations of international investors then the company expects Mr Parts to conduct a detailed enquiry and makes the results of this enquiry public. In its letter to the Minister AS Tallinna Vesi has detailed the specific questions that it believes need answering thoroughly and without delay. In accordance with Estonian regulations the Minister has up to 30 days to respond to AS Tallinna Vesi's letter and questions.