Corruption in Finland

Corruption in Finland is very low by world standards. Transparency International’s 2016 Corruption Perception Index ranks the country 3rd place out of 176 countries. ^[1] Most people would have contact with their daily life, dealing with public officials and so forth. ^[2] What corruption is there? Decision-making is also problematic, because private companies have no obligation to reveal details publicly. ^[3]The lack of transparency around political donations and election funding is also a source of concern. Tax evasion, gifts, hospitality, and conflicts of interest, which represent some types of nontraditional corruption in Finland. ^[4]

Forms of Corruption

Elections

According to Transparency International in 2008, the lack of transparency of the Finnish political finance had caused international surprise. ^[5] According to GRECO in 2007, corruption should be taken into account in the Finnish system of election funds. ^[6] The Finance scandal of election in 2007 in Finland started in spring 2008. Nine Ministers of Government had a lack of transparency in their reporting, and even more of the members of parliament. The law includes no punishment of false reporting funds by Elected politicians and the conservative National Coalition Party Rural gold Center Party (Finland) has not asked for the resignation of the politicians convicted in court.

Political appointments

Two-thirds of state and municipal public servants are appointed by the members of political parties. Only 5% of citizens are members of the parties. Article 6 of the Constitution of the United States states that it should have equal rights to public jobs and that it should be based on capability and expertise. There may be some criticism that the number of political appointments of public servants may be excessive. ^[7] The parties also decide on the salaries of the public posts.

Tax avoidance

Tax havens were examined in 2013 in Sweden by 200 tax officers, in Denmark about 100, in Norway 80, and in Finland 10-20 officers. Sweden received € 100 million extra tax in 2012 with help from Unreported employment inspections, Finland none. Jyrki Katainen of the Finnish government claiming its objective against an employment perspective (Schwarzarbeit), based on an expert on the subject, Mr. Markku Hirvonen, the resources in Finland have not been sufficient. In Sweden, all transactions above 150,000 Swedish kronor (about € 15,000) are required to be reported to the tax officers. This is not the case in Finland. Prime Minister Jyrki Katainenis responsible. ^[8]

According to Taloussanomat , Finland loses € 320 million in taxes havens annually. ^[9] According to business watchdog organization Finnwatch , Finnish companies have 438 subsidiaries in the world. Finland’s top 20 companies were found by Finnish to have subsidiaries in tax havens. ^[10]

Germany bought bank data from the LGT Bank Liechtenstein from Heinrich Kieber in 2008. According to the LGT Bank, some 20 Finns have evaded tax in Finland via accounts with € 50-60 million in deposited funds. This is the largest tax avoidance case. All the names have been kept secret and police will not ignore the tax avoidance of these rich persons in Finland. ^[11] [12]

Based on this data the Finnish tax agency has collected unpaid tax of more than € 10 million until 2013. According to Helsingin Sanomat in Sept / Oct 2013, Liechtenstein bank accounts include funds of Casimir Ehrnrooth ( UPM (HS 21.9.2013), family major owners in the construction company YIT , Jaakko Pöyry , Guggenheim Helsinki Plan (exploding rocks), Bertel Paulig (coffee, spices), and the owners of a Turku construction company . ^[13]

Many persons, eg Jorma Ollila , Kari Stadigh and Ehrnrooth family, have investments in Luxembourg. ^[14]

Total annual taxes are € 65 trillion and Finland’s annual fiscal deficit is estimated to be between € 4.6 trillion and € 7.7 trillion. Finland is only just figuring out how the tax gap should be assessed, unlike many other countries. According to Parliamentary Audit Committee Chairperson Tuija Brax . „Sweden has been actively addressing this tax gap for some time.“ ^[15]

The Finnish Tax Authorities started the 2008 Liechtenstein tax affair investigation in 2008. Seventeen Finns paid additional taxes totaling € 10 million. The taxpayers made claims in the Administrative Court . According to Finnish law, the cost of hidden taxes can be up to 30%. The decisions are not public. In two cases shown to reporters, the Administrative Court has a payment of around 1%, which is in conflict with the Tax Administration general rules. There are special reasons for very low tax. In one case the amount was € 483,000 and the additional tax was € 4,350. This is paid as interest on the money not paid in time. According to the Supreme Administrative Court of Finlandno other legal procedures are possible when collecting the hidden tax and its 1% interest rate . The tax officers have no education on the legal issues. ^[16]

Corruption in construction

An account audit will be done in 2012 in the public building of Helsinki based on corruption, which has not been confirmed yet. This concern work with YIT . ^[17] Six persons were arrested in May 2012 by order of Helsinki District Court in the investigation of corruption in Helsinki city building contracts. The detainees were suspected of acceptance of snatches. Public HKR-Rakennuttaja purchases from the building sector with a value of up to around 100 million euros per year. Prices may add up to around 100,000 euros over several years. ^[18]

Destia, a state-owned company that builds public roads, was reviewed for alleged treason in January 2013. ^[19]

Former Mayor of the City of Espoo, Marketta Kokkonen, and Olavi Louko, the director of Espoo’s Technical and Environment Services, received bribery charges related to major construction companies in 2010. ^[20] Olavi Louko makes town planning suggestions in Espoo since 2001. Previously he worked in the Helsinki real estate department (Helsingin kiinteistövirasto). With the exception of 7 years since 2007. ^[21] Bribes were given at least between 2004-2008. The state demanded Louko to pay back € 7,500 while each public presentation of a construction decision is in the value of several million euros. Already the Metro budget is € 800 million. Louko has responsibility for the construction and environmental protection. ^[22]Olavi Louko Espoo construction planning was convicted of having traveled from the construction industry and media. The last court decision pointed out that it is important that citizens have trust in the independence of public projects and true democracy.

In Espoo board of directors, only True to Olavi Louko based on receiving bribes according to the decision in 2010. All other parties considered it ok. ^[23] Members can be seen in the document enclosed. ^[24] The Court of Appeal considers the bribes to affect the confidence at work. Thereafter, he has continued in his position as before.

In the Guggenheim Helsinki Plan , art museum director Janne Gallen-Kallela-Siren was not neutral in his position according to Mayja Saxlin in the Parliamentary Ombudsman investigation released in May 2013. ^[25] According to Carl Gustaf Ehrnrooth , the major owner of construction companies including YIT and Pöyry , Gallen-Kallela-Sirén made the proposal of the Guggenheim museum. Gallen-Kallela-Sirén was a member of the board of directors of C-G Ehrnrooth. His (JG-KS) wife also worked for this company. ^[26] [27] When tax havens are criticized, and the tax haven accounts of fundsCasimir Ehrnrooth were made public, Helsinki politicians accepted a tax haven funded project in the Helsinki Center.

The competition authorities‘ criticism of retail was published in June 2013. ^[28]

The 2007 Finnish campaign finance scandal bribery awards were overturned in the Helsinki Court of Appeal at the end of June 2013. ^[29]

Ex-mayor of Vantaa Jukka Peltomäki was accused in 2013 of receiving € 500,000 benefit from Forma Futura in 2006-2011. Forma Futura has planned buildings for VVO , NCC , YIT and Citycon . ^{[30] [31] [32] [33]}

Olkiluoto nuclear plant

The Olkiluoto nuclear plant construction project has been accused of gray work. It was not possible to check the foreign workers‘ employment conditions without prior notice. Controllers or police had no unannounced access to the area. After work, the work was often changed. In addition, the foreign workers often left the country before the criminal case was evaluated. The workforce has been changed and is not registered for tax or other official registers. ^[34]

Political appointments

Political appointments make the democratic decision-making of construction questionable. The share of the municipal board of directors in the municipality is more important than average. Non-political citizens have low chance of any municipal director appointment. In the end, the politicians will be politically responsible for their actions after working in the municipal job. The ability of politicians to make the best decision of recruiting has not been proved.

Corruption in electronics

Salora-case

Salora-case in 1977 was at its time the largest tax evasion and bribery case. TV Nurmi and Salora sold television in the value of 6 million Finnish marks excluding accounting procedures during 1970-1975. In Imatra started a new factory Valco (construction cost Fmk265 million) in 1978, which was in bankruptcy after two years. Politicians were accused of bribery since they were present from Salora (TV and stereo equipment). None of these leading politicians were accused in the court, but they were lost in the next elections because of the claimants (from RKP, Liberals and center party politicians) from Salora. Bror Wahlroos, the father of Björn Wahlroos, was accused of receiving stereos in the value of Fmk2,000. He was convicted in Fmk3,000 fine. Chief director of Salora was convicted of bribery to five ministers, two secretary general, one governor and 30 tax officers. The conviction was prison for 3.5 years. ^[35]

Political corruption

Director Mikko Laaksonen Tax Administration founding company elections funds for the National Coalition Party were incorrectly reduced as the expense of the company operations in the 1980s. In 1979 the biggest newspaper advertisement Expenses in Helsinki were by the Members of the Construction Committee. ^[36] [37]

Sauli told Mikko Sauli (Helsingin Sanomat 11.5.2012) that political youth organizations have the habit to overestimate the number of their members. All the large parts refused to give their member list for the control authorities saying that it is illegal. Political parties have acted the control methods. State support was in 2012 largest for the Party Center € 670,000 and National Coalition Party € 657,000. ^[38] [39]

Ilkka Kanerva of the National Coalition Party was convicted in April 2012 for accepting snippets. He withdrew from Turku council in May 2012. ^[40]

Parliament and Government

In November 2016 Juha Sipilä ’s government held € 100 million of public funds for Terrafame known as Talvivaara Mining Company . In November 2016 YLE TV NEWS reported that a company owned by children, uncles and cousins ​​of Sipilä have a half million contract with Terrafame. According to Sipilä, Pöyry made the contract as a consultant. The major owners of Pöyry are Henrik Ehrnrooth and his family. ^{[41] [42] [43]} In 2016, YLE reported that Georg and Henrik Ehrnrooth owns a company in Luxemburg that organizes Taxes for their customers Jorma Ollila and Kari Stadigh. The company worked with Mossack Fonseca in Panama for a number of years. ^[44]

Corruption in sports

In 2011, several football players were busy with bribery. Singaporean match-fix Wilson Raj Perumal was accused of agreed matches in 2008-2011. In total 11 players were charged. ^[45]

Anti-corruption conventions

Agreements include: ^[46]

• Council of Europe Civil Law Convention on Corruption (signed June 2000, ratified October 2001)
• Council of Europe Criminal Law Convention on Corruption (signed January 1999, ratified October 2002)
• OECD Convention on Combating Bribery of Foreign Public Officials (signed December 1998; ratified February 1999)
• United Nations Convention Against Corruption (signed December 2003; accepted June 2006)
• A Convention Against Transnational Organized Crime (signed December 2000, ratified February 2004)

See also

• Crime in Finland

External links

• First GRECO Report
• Second GRECO Report
• Third GRECO Report
• Finland Corruption Profile from the Business Anti-Corruption Portal

References