ISS officials attend fraternity event under fake names and get caught | News

“Unlimited drinks and snacks,” the association advertised to alumni and students ahead of an event for prospective students scheduled for March 2, promising that joining the association was a must to fully enjoy the university experience.

Such evenings are key occasions for fraternities and sororities, because despite the fact that Tartu’s student organizations are full on Walpurgis Night, the former recruit fewer freshmen and young members each year. Times have changed, free beer has become less attractive, and the vaunted social capital comes from other sources.

The party started at 8:00 p.m. and attracted, in addition to Sakala members and alumni, several dozen other people, mostly young men aged 19-20. However, among them were two men in their thirties, introducing themselves as Anton Meremäe and Tanel Saage, as listed in the Sakala guestbook.

Sakala graduate Karl Kaur suggested that Meremäe and Saage were not particularly conspicuous because of their age. Older students are sometimes interested in college caps, songs and rapiers. But as the guests sat down for a beer, something seemed wrong.

“Their demeanor became increasingly detailed,” Kaur said. “They seemed very interested in our graduates, asking a lot of questions.”

Another Sakala graduate, Priit Suviste, also said the men seemed interested in the inner workings of the organization. “A few people understood at first that not everything was as it seemed,” Suviste said, referring to accounts from others.

Anton Meremäe and Tanel Saage – fictional characters

The situation became even more confusing when the guests were asked to say a few words about themselves.

“They looked like fish out of water, they didn’t look like students,” Kaur recalled. “They didn’t know what they were learning.”

But this is where the accounts of those who spoke to ERR begin to diverge.

Some suggest that Meremäe and Saage introduced themselves as computer science students, while others claim that they were studying law. When speaking about computer science studies, the men allegedly mentioned a long-decommissioned curriculum. Others claim that they enrolled in a course that another member first saw them in at a Sakala event.

The memories grow hazier as the evening progresses, while many seem to agree that the characters in the story left early and without saying goodbye. “That’s when the speculation about what had just happened started,” Karl Kaur said, especially since Anton Meremäe and Tanel Saage are gone.

However, a recording from years ago of a graduation ceremony where both guests received their master’s degrees in law can be found online. The names given in the recording are different, but the men are undoubtedly the same. Both currently work for the Internal Security Service (ISS).

ERR knows the identities of the men but will not publish their names or photos so as not to inadvertently jeopardize other investigations. We will continue to use the pseudonyms the men chose for this story.

At the same time, criminal proceedings are underway against Sakala.

This strange visit would probably have been forgotten had the detention of businessman Parvel Pruunsild and Tartu deputy mayor Priit Humal not hit front pages across the country two months later.

The case that has just gone to court concerns the brotherhood’s long-standing desire to acquire the former Estonian National Museum property at Kuperjanovi tänav.

According to the allegations, Pruunsild put pressure on Humala to make Tartu give up its pre-emptive right to purchase the property.

Humal and active alumni Sakala Pruunsild went to school together. Prosecutors say Pruunsild sponsored Humal’s campaign, having enough political influence as a major sponsor of the Isamaa party. The charges also allege that Pruunsild, who is a shareholder in Bigbank, helped Humal’s closest relatives get a loan.

In summary, Priit Humal is charged with violating procedural restrictions, and Parvel Pruunsild with aiding and abetting. Both men say they did nothing illegal.

Pruunsild’s lawyer: Evidence points to illegal surveillance

Talk of the ISS agents’ nighttime outing soon reached Parvel Pruunsild. The businessman’s defense attorney, Paul Keres, brought it up during a preliminary hearing in the case in early June, describing what had taken place at the Sakala event as illegal surveillance.

“The evidence suggests that two ISS officials attended Sakala’s guest night using false names; in other words, acting as police officers, presumably to gather information for the criminal investigation into Parvel Pruunsild,” Keres told ERR.

The attorney agrees that the use of police agents is not unusual.

“The problem in this case is that they did it on their own initiative and without permission, in other words, illegally,” Keres said, pointing out that the indictment makes no mention of the visit or any documents related to it.

ISS: Our guys were just having fun

However, the defense team’s theory is based on the assumption that the men known as Meremäe and Saage were on duty, something that ISS office head Harrys Puusepp denies.

“They went there as civilians,” Puusepp said. “They saw the ad and decided to check it out. They spent some time there and then left.”

Puusepp also added that one of the men was a student at the time, although he did not remember what his major was.

He couldn’t say what the men claimed to have studied or what they discussed with other guests. Puusepp doesn’t think it’s unusual for them to use fake names.

“When attending an event that requires writing your name in a notebook, our employees tend not to provide their real names unless they know how their personal information will be used,” Puusepp said, adding: “Since they were there on their own time, the intention was not to associate it with work.”

The officers were able to attend the party because Pruunsild was somewhere else

According to Paul Keres, the ISS explanation cannot be taken seriously. He emphasized that since the whole case concerns Sakala’s desire to acquire a building on Kuperjanovi tänav, the brotherhood is part of the proceedings.

“One of the ISS officials in question is also involved in the investigation into Parvel Pruunsild,” Keres stressed.

Harrys Puusepp admitted that the official posing as Tanel Saage was indeed involved in the case, but said it had no bearing on the case.

“Participating in an open fraternity event has absolutely nothing to do with the criminal case,” Puusepp said. “There was no evidence there. No one was looking for evidence, and it was a purely private matter.”

Puusepp also said the men asked their supervisor before arriving at the Sakala event if it could cause problems and were told no. “Because we didn’t know anyone whose presence could cause problems.”

The ISS knew for a fact that Parvel Pruunsild was elsewhere. “So there was no problem,” Puusepp said again. “The Brotherhood was not investigated. There was no connection.”

Attorney General: ISS is not perceived well

But Keres believes the visit is important to his defense strategy. “Because illegal procedural actions can affect the legality of other actions, which in turn can affect what kind of evidence can be used against my client,” the attorney explained. He did not explain how he intends to link the officials’ night to the prosecution’s evidence.

After a preliminary hearing in June, District Attorney Gerd Raudsepp told Delfi he would look into Keres’ suspicions, noting that defense attorneys seeking to dismiss surveillance evidence are not isolated cases.

The matter was raised by Isamaa Party politician Helir-Valdor Seeder at a joint session of the Constitutional Committee and the Legal Committee of the Riigikogu on 11 June. Prosecutor General Andres Parmas also attended.

Parmas (who is an alumnus of the Rotalia fraternity) said the matter was brought to his attention by members of Sakala, while at the time he understood it to be an incident that had occurred long ago. Parmas only later realized that the events in question had occurred recently.

Parmas told the committee that attempts to link the men’s visit to the Pruunsild case were arbitrary and that no illegal surveillance had taken place.

“But the fact that ISS officials were present at the Sakala event and were caught is not a credit to the agency,” Parmas noted. The attorney general added that he had contacted the ISS and asked for a meeting until the parliamentary committees met.

Prosecutor’s Office: There is no illegal surveillance

Kairi Küngas, head of the prosecutor’s office’s public relations department, said that ISS officials had provided explanations.

“From the point of view of the Prosecutor’s Office, there was no illegal surveillance, but we do not want to go into details of these conversations because both people were summoned as witnesses,” Küngas wrote in a commentary.

“Before someone gives evidence in court, situations should be avoided in which others provide explanations and assessments that could influence the witness’s testimony.”

Küngas added that since the incident was not a manifestation of illegal surveillance, the prosecutor’s office believes it has no significance for the trial, which is due to start soon.

Sakala Brotherhood

Korp! Sakala, an academic men’s organization, was founded on November 14, 1909, in accordance with the traditions prevailing in Tartu at that time. Sakala has a blue-purple-white flag.

Sakala has over 500 members, of which almost 400 in Estonia and about 150 in foreign chapters in the United States, Canada, Australia and Sweden. Sakala unites novices, active members and graduates from various fields. Notable members of Korp! Sakala are Parvel Pruunsild, Riho Terras, Hendrik Johannes Terras, Margus Tsahkna, Peeter Tali, Tiit Aleksejev, Ando Kiviberg, Peeter Espak, Tarmo Kulmar and others.

The principles of Korp! Sakala are nationalism, populism, physical training and health, self-education and the motto “One for all, all for one”. The main principles are summarized as: natio, democratia, fraternitas.

The Sakala fraternity house in Tartu, located at Veski 69, was completed in 1911. The three-story, stone Art Nouveau building was designed by the famous Finnish architects Armas Lindgren and Wivi Lönn and commissioned by Korp! Sakala. In 2013, Sakala also acquired the fraternity house in Tallinn, located at Roosikrantsi 3.

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