Called in for questioning today, Justice Minister Kristen Michal and MP Kalev Lillo were formally named suspects of an investigation into alleged violations regarding the financing of their political party.

Michal and Lillo are suspected of violating regulations set for party economic activities and assets - crimes punishable with fines, the Prosecutor's Office told uudised.err.ee.

Lillo called the investigation “thorough,” in a press release sent out after he was questioned. "There is reason to believe that the prosecutor and police have talked with tens of people,” he said.

As previously, Lillo denied any wrongdoing.

To the surprise of journalists, MP Taavi Rõivas, chairman of Parliament's European Affairs Committee, also showed up at the Central Crime Investigation Department today. The prosecutor's spokesperson, however, would not comment on why Rõivas was present.

In May, former MP Silver Meikar wrote an article in the opinion section of the newspaper Postimees, in which he admitted to taking money from others and donating it under his own name to the Reform Party's bank account. Meikar alleged that the current justice minister, then the party's secretary general, had asked him to move the funds and that Lillo had provided him with the money.

Ott Tammik