70% of bankruptcies that were declared in Estonia in October 2011 were personal bankruptcies of private persons. According to experts, declaring one personally bankrupt is cheaper than paying debts to bailiffs, writes Eesti Ekspress weekly.
A typical case: a resident of Tallinn who owns 116,000 euros, has no assets, earns 640 euros a month and has two children.
While a year ago a total of 1,655 bankruptcy applications were filed last year, of which 20% were personal bankruptcies, the ratio is now at 30%.
One of the most prominent persons to be declared bankrupt recently was Viktor Levada who was once one of Estonia's richest businessmen and who had guaranteed a business loan in the amount of over 6 million euros. Also his company that had paid about 700 million kroons for a vacant lot opposite Hotel Olympia is now bankrupt.
Another is Väino Pentus, father of Estonian minister of environmental affairs Keit Pentus, owned 195,000 euros and whose transport company Autorollo went bankrupt in spring.
Toomas Hõbemägi
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