Estonia minister quits over ammunition deal with India-owned firm

Estonia's defence minister Hanno Pevkur has resigned after a 70 million euros (over Rs 768.50 crore) ammunition deal meant to support Ukraine unravelled into a procurement scandal involving an Indian-owned company that had no previous record of selling artillery shells. Pevkur, who has served as defence minister since 2022, announced his resignation on Wednesday, saying he was taking responsibility for the defence deal after a series of critical findings by Estonia's National Audit Office.
According to reports, the Estonian Centre for Defence Investments, known as ECDI, signed four contracts with Datasel S.R.L., a small Italian company acquired by an Indian defence business, and paid about €70 million in advance for artillery shells intended for Ukraine. The ammunition did not reach Ukraine and Estonia is now pursuing the company through the Estonian courts and international arbitration.The ammunition was initially expected to reach Ukraine within months, but deliveries were repeatedly delayed because of reported production problems. When ammunition was eventually received in 2025, Eesti Ekspress reported that it failed to meet quality requirements.
As per local media report, on 6 March 2024, Italian compay Datasel was acquired by Neco Defence Munitions, an Indian company controlled by the cousins Anand and Avneesh Jayaswal. Their family is behind Jayaswal Neco Industries, a metallurgical group with annual turnover of more than €600 million. According to Ekspress, either Datasel nor its new owners had previously sold an artillery shell.
Estonia has since taken the dispute to the European Arbitration and Mediation Centre in Strasbourg, France, which handles commercial disputes, as it seeks to recover the €70 million paid for the ammunition. Elmar Vaher, director general of the Centre for Defence Investments, told Eesti Ekspress that the deal should not have been signed.