As the investigation of this Group of Experts into the foundering of MV ESTONIA comes into its final stage it seems appropriate to sum up the developments since the publication of the main body of our Report in May 2000 and draw final conclusions to this Update.

As will be shown later the basic conclusions of our Report need not be altered. The ESTONIA was unseaworthy when she left Tallinn on the evening of the 27.9.1994 and that fact was known – amongst others - to her captains and chief engineer, the Swedish Sjöfartsverket and the Estonian National Maritime Board, all of whom failed to take the action necessary to prevent the vessel from sailing.

As will be shown there is furthermore no reasonable doubt left, that explosions occurred at the forward part of the vessel and elsewhere during the voyage to Stockholm, which caused extensive damage. This necessitated a slight alteration of our scenario. Whether the damage caused by the explosions was a contributing cause for the sinking of the vessel or not can, however, at the time not be established with absolute certainty. The actual circumstances of the sinking of the vessel do raise doubts as to the integrity of her underwater sections. There is sufficient reason to assume that the underwater shell of the vessel was open to the sea shortly before the vessel sank. This, however, can also at the time being not be established with certainty.

Our investigation since May 2000 has revealed, however, further facts which shed a very peculiar light on the behaviour of the Swedish Government with regard to everything concerning the MV ESTONIA. After thorough research conducted by us in the files of the Swedish government it has now transpired, that the acting Swedish Prime Minister at the time of the accident, Mr. Carl Bildt, without possibly knowing any of the relevant facts or having any own expertise - and against the better knowledge of his military advisor Commander Emil Svensson on the afternoon of the 28.09.1994 – together with the Prime Ministers of Estonia and Finland - already pretended to know the cause of the accident and made it public: The design mistake of the visor locks.

The legend thus created by him thereafter dominated the investigation of the JAIC to the extent, that the true facts were severely manipulated by the members of the JAIC as  will be demonstrated hereinafter. In the last chapters of the main body of our Report, we have accused the JAIC of sloppy work. Having read this Update the reader will probably come to the same conclusion as we do now: The members of the JAIC have indeed performed their investigation not with the aim to find the true causes for the casualty, but were apparently influenced to create a scenario from which the public should draw the conclusion, that the accident was caused by a design mistake. They complied – albeit sloppily - and that  - in legal terms – leaves only one conclusion: The members of the JAIC have committed slander when they – against their better knowledge – stated and maintained that the accident was caused by a design mistake by the builders of the vessel, Messrs. Jos. L. Meyer GmbH, in Papenburg, which they do up to day.

That unfortunately is not the only sordid conclusion the reader will have to draw: If he is a citizen of the Kingdom of Sweden, he will up to now most likely have trusted his government in their intention to abide by their own laws and refrain from adherence to lies.

As will be shown below, the Swedish government, however, in the case of MV ESTONIA did not justify this trust of their citizens. It did for example not hesitate to exert power on the crew of two German tugs in the vicinity of the wreck site, although it is undisputed that the wreck lies in international waters, where the freedom of the seas prevails, which fact renders the actions of the Swedish government officials involved in them illegal. It is symptomatic that the same officials refrained from repeating their illegal action, when US citizens where on the next ship, trying to gain information on the secrets of the wreck.

The official reason of the Swedish government for the described illegalities was that the “peace of the grave” should be maintained. Apart from the fact that neither the crew of the German tugs nor that the subsequent expedition had any intention at all to disturb the peace of the dead, it has now transpired that the actual reason for the illegal actions was quite different: As will be shown hereinafter the wreck of MV ESTONIA under the supervision and control of the government of the Kingdom of Sweden has in the meantime been literally plundered.

The peace of the grave has thereby repeatedly and intentionally been disturbed in the gravest possible manner. Unfortunately it must be concluded that the actual reason for the attempt of the Swedish government to exclude third persons from any access to the site of the wreck was to prevent detection of the above.