Laura Kaarina Räty (born 14 September 1977) is a

Finnish Finnish may refer to: * Something or someone from, or related to Finland * Culture of Finland * Finnish people or Finns, the primary ethnic group in Finland * Finnish language, the national language of the Finnish people * Finnish cuisine See also ...

politician, former Minister of Social Affairs and Health and a business director at the Finnish

private hospital A private hospital is a hospital not owned by the government, including for-profits and non-profits. Funding is by patients themselves ("self-pay"), by insurers, or by foreign embassies. Private hospitals are commonly part, albeit in varying degr ...

corporate group A corporate group or group of companies is a collection of parent and subsidiary corporations that function as a single economic entity through a common source of control. These types of groups are often managed by an account manager. The concep ...

Terveystalo Terveystalo (literally "health-house") is a Finland, Finnish private healthcare company. Terveystalo provides healthcare, work healthcare and hospital care services for private persons, corporations, insurance companies and the public sector in ab ...

. She has been criticized for

tax planning Tax avoidance is the legal usage of the tax regime in a single territory to one's own advantage to reduce the amount of tax that is payable by means that are within the law. A tax shelter is one type of tax avoidance, and tax havens are jurisdict ...

and for possible

conflict of interest A conflict of interest (COI) is a situation in which a person or organization is involved in multiple interests, financial or otherwise, and serving one interest could involve working against another. Typically, this relates to situations i ...

when transferring from public office to health business.

Career

Laura Räty worked as a physician and served in the

Helsinki City Council The City Council of Helsinki (, ) is the main decision-making organ in the local politics of Helsinki, Finland. The City Council deals with issues such as city planning, schools, health care, and public transport. The 85-seat Council's members a ...

from 2005 to 2011 and the

Helsinki Helsinki ( or ; ; sv, Helsingfors, ) is the Capital city, capital, primate city, primate, and List of cities and towns in Finland, most populous city of Finland. Located on the shore of the Gulf of Finland, it is the seat of the region of U ...

City Board from 2009 to 2011 representing the

National Coalition Party sv, Samlingspartiet , leader1_title = Chairman , leader1_name = Petteri Orpo , leader2_title = Deputy chairs , leader2_name = Antti Häkkänen Elina ValtonenAnna-Kaisa Ikonen , merger = Finnish Party, Young Finnis ...

before running for

Parliament of Finland The Parliament of Finland ( ; ) is the unicameral and supreme legislature of Finland, founded on 9 May 1906. In accordance with the Constitution of Finland, sovereignty belongs to the people, and that power is vested in the Parliament. The ...

in the 2011 election. She failed to gain a seat, but was appointed as Deputy Mayor of

for Social Services and Health Care and served in the role from 2011 to 2014. In June 2014, Räty was appointed Minister of Social Affairs and Health in the cabinet of Alexander Stubb. She was set to replace resigning

Lasse Männistö Lasse Pekka Männistö (born 16 March 1982) is a Finnish politician and an executive in charge of outsourcing and public relations at the Finnish private hospital corporate group Mehiläinen. He has been criticized for violating the dignity of Par ...

as Member of Parliament in 2014 until Männistö withdrew his resignation under criticism for violating the dignity of Parliament. She ran for Parliament again in the 2015 election, but 4,087 votes were not enough to get her elected. She briefly returned to her Deputy Mayor post in May 2015 before resigning and joining the Finnish

Terveystalo as a business director in 2016.

Criticism

Laura Räty's questioning of Finnish wages garnered wide criticism in 2014. Räty claimed that only a very small number of parents in Finland earn under 2,600 euros per month while in actuality almost 500,000 Finn parents earned under 2,600 euros per month at the time. She later apologized for her comments. Her financial matters were the subject of public discussion when it was discovered that she had utilized

during her physician tenure 2007–2011. She had transformed some of her income into tax-free

dividend A dividend is a distribution of profits by a corporation to its shareholders. When a corporation earns a profit or surplus, it is able to pay a portion of the profit as a dividend to shareholders. Any amount not distributed is taken to be re-in ...

s during 2006–2009 and her

holding company A holding company is a company whose primary business is holding a controlling interest in the securities of other companies. A holding company usually does not produce goods or services itself. Its purpose is to own shares of other companies ...

had received approximately 20,000 euros of tax-free dividends during 2007–2011. Otherwise over half of the sum would have been subject to

tax A tax is a compulsory financial charge or some other type of levy imposed on a taxpayer (an individual or legal entity) by a governmental organization in order to fund government spending and various public expenditures (regional, local, or n ...

ation. Räty later commented that she would not repeat the arrangement in the future and had discontinued it after her selection as Deputy Mayor of

in 2011. In 2016, Laura Räty was criticized for her decision to resign as Deputy Mayor of Helsinki for Social Services and Health Care and join the

Terveystalo as a business director. Her move was seen by opposing politicians and the press as a

due to possible use of insider information on public affairs concerning health reform. Similarly, her guidance for Terveystalo physicians to send patients to the physicians' own clinics with public health funding received criticism.

References

External links

Parliament of Finland website

National Coalition Party website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Raty, Laura 1977 births Living people People from Äänekoski National Coalition Party politicians Ministers of Social Affairs of Finland Women government ministers of Finland 21st-century Finnish politicians 21st-century Finnish women politicians