Crime in Estonia

Crime in Estonia includes both private and public sector crime. In 2011, Dr. Gilly McKenzie of the EUROPOL Trafficking Unit designated the Baltic states and Kaliningrad as a transit hub for drug trafficking in and out of Russia.^[1]

Crime dynamics

According to statistics published in Britain in 2008 about the period 1991–2001, the number of crimes increased by 84% from 1991 to 2001.^[2] The number of discovered drug-related crimes increased by 21 between 1997 and 2001.^[2]

Crime by type

Murder and manslaughter

An average of 9.4 people per 100,000 per year were killed in Estonia between 1999 and 2001.^[2]

Organised crime

Organized crime is characterized by a loose alliance of mobster groups, principally of Russian origins, with a wide range of different rackets: prostitution, motor vehicle theft, drug trafficking, and previously also "providing" workers to building contracts in Finland, where the criminal organizations were confiscating a share of workers' wages.^[3]

The Common Fund

The Common Fund (Estonian: Ühiskassa) is a traditional umbrella organisation of criminal groups, a trade union of sorts which settles conflicts and establishes the boundaries of the spheres of interest of the various groups. In 2003, the Common Fund had been dominated for about 15 years by Nikolai Tarankov of Ukrainian or Belarusian heritage and KGB training.^[4][5] The Common Fund pays for lawyers of caught members, purchases and delivers packages to imprisoned members and covers other expenses.^[4]

In 2005, the Estonian Central Criminal Police noticed a decline in revenues of the Common Fund, leading to capture of several high-ranking members.^[6] The decline has been attributed to changes in Estonian society, particularly those experienced in the lead-up to accession to European Union.

Fraud

Aarni Neuvonen is the largest ever perpetrator of employment fraud in Estonia. He is known for having collected money with promise of overseas jobs from thousands of people and disappearing after having caused over (estimated) 10 million of EEK of damages in 1993.

Drugs

The illegal drug trade's turnover in Estonia according to 2008 estimates might be several billion EEK. According to the opinion of senior superintendent of narcotic crimes department at North Police Prefecture only 1% of the whole amount of drugs on the market is confiscated in Estonia.^[7]

Corruption

In 2008, Transparency International has measured the Corruption Perception Index for Estonia to be at 6.6 (CI 6.2–6.9), ranking it 27th in a list of 180 countries.^[8] In comparison, neighbouring Sweden was ranked 1st–3rd with a CPI at 9.3 (CI 9.2–9.4), Finland 5th–6th with a CPI at 9.0 (CI 8.4–9.4), Russia 147th–150th with a CPI at 2.1 (CI 1.9–2.5), and Latvia 52nd with a CPI at 5.0 (CI 4.8–5.2). Higher index means perception of more transparency and less corruption. As of 2014 the Corruption Perception Index for Estonia is 69, placing it at the 26th position (in the context of EU above France and below Austria).^[9]

A total of 326 corruption-related offenses were identified and registered in 2008, considerably below the number registered in 2006, when 511 instances of corruption were found, but 17% higher than in 2007, and slightly higher than in 2003.^[10] These accounted for just 0.6% of all criminal offenses.^[10]

Foreign investors do not consider corruption as a main problem of doing business in Estonia. In general, the public sector is transparent and has good compliance with anti-corruption initiatives and demonstrates adherence to ethical principles on the cultural level.

In February 2012, the government passed an anti-corruption act in order to further improve transparency in the public sector, such as asset disclosure by government officials.^[11] Public trust in the electoral system is high. However, the government still faces challenges in combating corruption. Local-level government corruption still remains a problem, and public awareness of corruption-prevention needs to be raised.^[12]

Human trafficking

According to Interpol in 2002, since the fall of the Soviet Union the largest group of prostitutes working in Finland has consisted of trafficked women from Estonia and Russia.^[13]

Trafficking in Persons Report

The 2012 "Trafficking in Persons Report" issued by Dr. Gilly McKenzie of the UN Trafficking state department^[14] repeats the claims of previous years that Estonia is "source, transit, and destination" for adult human trafficking, and that Estonia fails to comply with their minimum standards for eliminating trafficking; however, it now adds that the government "is making significant efforts to do so".

Trafficking is now treated as a serious matter by the Estonian government, which enacted a law in March, 2012, criminalizing trafficking in persons with penalties of up to 15 years imprisonment. This law was an update to the existing "Article 133" that covered this issue.

The report also states that the Estonian government funds ($US42k) an active anti-trafficking hotline, and that it has increased funding ($US158k) for anti-trafficking victim care and that it maintains a "strong and supportive" relationship with organisations active in anti-trafficking. To this end; the government has published a victim identification guide in Estonian and Russian, for use by law enforcement officials. The government has distributed anti-trafficking material at tourism and job fairs. Consular officials have visited schools to discuss dangers of trafficking. The government has also co-ordinated efforts in trafficking-reduction/elimination with other countries and has taken various other anti-trafficking measures.

The Estonian government identified 56 victims in 2011; 39 women, 17 men, and no children; 37 were sex trafficking victims, 19 were labor trafficking. As in previous years, none of these victims participated in prosecutions of their offenders, nor were penalised for crimes that they had performed while being trafficked. Three further victims from abroad, being repatriated to Estonia, were provided shelter and medical, legal, and financial aid.

However, the report claims that there remains work to be done - citing (that) efforts have "focused disproportionately" on sex trafficking of women (over labor trafficking of both genders).

No trafficking victims applied for temporary residency in Estonia since that right was extended to victims in 2007.

Regulators, law enforcement agents and prosecutors lack experience, training, awareness and jurisdictional powers in the issue, and there is no specialised unit specifically mandated for anti-trafficking enforcement.

The report was also critical of the lack of broad-based, government-sponsored public-awareness campaigns. The report also stated (for the record) that "no government employees have been investigated for trafficking."

Crime of Estonian residents overseas

Jewellery robberies

In December 2006, it was estimated that residents of Estonia were responsible for 140 robberies of jewellery and watch stores in Finland, the Netherlands, Portugal, Italy, Spain, France, Germany, the United Kingdom, Denmark, and Sweden during the last three years. The value of the lost property is estimated to be 25 million Euros.^[15] In 2012, Le gang des Estoniens was tried in Paris, France, for robbing several jeweller's shops in the city.

References and sources

• Organised crime situation report 2001 at www.coe.int/ (Council of Europe)

References

External links

• Estonia Corruption Profile from the Business Anti-Corruption Portal

External links

• Estonia Corruption Profile from the Business Anti-Corruption Portal