Police arrest Estonian businessman on suspicion of human trafficking
13.02.2012, 10:38Controversial Estonian businessman Indrek Mandre was arrested on Friday on suspicion that he had mediated Estonian women for work in striptease clubs and solicited prostitution, writes Eesti Päevaleht daily.
One woman who is a single mother and was hired by Mandre says that after she signed a contract with Mandre, she spent some time in Helsinki and was then sent to a Athens striptease club in Greece where she was forced to work as a prostitute.
She says in Tallinn she was contacted by a woman who worked for Mandre and who recommended Mandre. She said she was given a contract that had very strict sanctions and fines for violations, but decided to sign it.In the Greece striptease club, she found out that she was expected to do lapdance and to offer sexual services although the contract said nothing about it.
When she got sick and contacted Mandre to ask him if she could leave, he told her that she must continue working and repay her debt. With a help of one Greek who paid for her plane ticket, she finally escaped and returned to Tallinn.
Commenting the accusation, Mandre says he has helped 300 women to find work abroad, denied any wrongdoing and said that the woman was hired to work as a dancer hostess and that it is all libel.Mandre is well known for Estonian law enforcement agencies as some years ago he was detained for suspicion of a tax fraud worth of tens of millions of kroons.