The 2007 Finnish campaign finance scandal arose in the spring of 2008 due to campaign funding issues related to the

2007 elections The following elections occurred in the year 2007. * Electoral calendar 2007 * Elections in 2007 * 2007 United Nations Security Council election Africa * 52nd National Conference of the African National Congress * 2007 Algerian legislative el ...

for the

Finnish Parliament 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 ...

held on 18 March 2007. The scandal involves mainly the campaign funding of

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

and Centre Party candidates. There were several related cases that were ongoing as of February 2012.

International

According to

Transparency International Transparency International e.V. (TI) is a German registered association founded in 1993 by former employees of the World Bank. Based in Berlin, its nonprofit and non-governmental purpose is to take action to combat global corruption with civil ...

the lack of transparency in Finnish political financing is remarkable even on an international stage. The organization compared the Finnish system to that of

Belarus Belarus,, , ; alternatively and formerly known as Byelorussia (from Russian ). officially the Republic of Belarus,; rus, Республика Беларусь, Respublika Belarus. is a landlocked country in Eastern Europe. It is bordered by ...

. According to

GRECO Greco may refer to: People * Greco (surname), a list of people with this surname * a masculine variant of Greca (given name), an Italian feminine given name * Greco Mafia clan, one of the most influential Mafia clans in Sicily and Calabria Wine ...

in 2007, the possibility of corruption should be more comprehensively taken into account in the Finnish election funding system.

The 2007 elections

Information with regards to funding was not made public during the election. The persons who were elected had to give make their finance reports public no later than May, 2007. Corporate funding of the elections stunned journalists in 2007, but after 7.5.2008 it was revealed that corporate funding of the elections was much larger than publicly reported figures claimed. This became a political scandal in 2008-2010. Many additions were made to the public finance reports in May 2008, which was a year too late. This pertained to multiple Ministers in Government:

Jyri Häkämies Jyri Jukka Häkämies (born 30 August 1961) is a Finnish politician and the CEO of Confederation of Finnish Industries The Confederation of Finnish Industries (EK, fi, Elinkeinoelämän Keskusliitto, sv, Finlands Näringsliv) is the largest emp ...

(kok),

Ilkka Kanerva Ilkka Armas Mikael Kanerva (28 January 1948 – 14 April 2022) was a Finnish politician and a member of the Parliament of Finland. He was born in Lokalahti, now a part of Uusikaupunki in Southwest Finland. He was the Minister for Foreign Affairs ...

(kok),

Jyrki Katainen Jyrki Tapani Katainen (born 14 October 1971) is a Finnish politician who served as the European Commission's Vice-President for Jobs, Growth, Investment and Competitiveness from 2014 until 2019. Katainen was previously Prime Minister of Finland fr ...

(kok),

Jan Vapaavuori Jan Pellervo Vapaavuori (born 3 April 1965) is a Finnish politician, the former Minister of Economic Affairs, and the former mayor of Helsinki. Vapaavuori was Minister of Housing and Minister of Nordic Cooperation in Matti Vanhanen's second cab ...

(kok),

Paula Lehtomäki Paula Lehtomäki (born 29 November 1972 in Kuhmo, Finland) is a Finnish politician. She started her political career in 1996, when she was elected to the Kuhmo town council. In 1999 she was elected to the Finnish Parliament, and again in 2003. In ...

(centre), Mauri Pekkarinen (centre), Anu Vehviläinen (centre),

Liisa Hyssälä Liisa Marja Hyssälä (born 18 December 1948 in Ii) is a retired Finnish politician of the Centre Party. She was a member of the Parliament of Finland The Parliament of Finland ( ; ) is the unicameral and supreme legislature of Finl ...

(centre) and Stefan Wallin (rkp). The lack of amendments to financial reports was not in itself evidence that the reports were in any way complete, there was no scrutiny and no penalties were ever issued.

Law

According to Markku Hirvonen (Ministry of State Finance) the main problem in election funding is the lack of scrutiny. The Finnish parliament considered the law unnecessary in 2002. However, Finland was forced to change the criminal law by European Council in 2002, later than in many other countries. The parliament made the law of election funds beneficial for itself. The new criminal law (2002) denied giving or taking bribery for/by the representatives of the parliament. The law was formulated in a way that it was in practice not possible to find any evidence of violations against the law according to professor Timo Viljanen,

University of Turku sv, Åbo universitet , latin_name = Universitas Aboensis , image_name = University of Turku.svg , motto = ''Vapaan kansan lahja vapaalle tieteelle'' , established = 1920 , type ...

, criminal law. Since the parliamentarians did not perform according to the law, some individuals asked the Ministry of Justice to investigate the case. According to the Ministry of Justice all control is in the responsibility of media and they have no opportunity to punish any politician of any potential bribery cases and/or lack of information. In 2011 the funds have not been opened by all politicians. e.g. Mari Kiviniemi has said that most payments of total 65,991 € are under the obligation to give any public information. This cannot be confirmed.

KMS

KMS passed €400,000 cash primarily to the conservative

or rural Centre Party (Finland). The organisation Kehittyvien maakuntien Suomi (KMS) ( en, Finland of Developing Regions) supported at least 21

Centrist Centrism is a political outlook or position involving acceptance or support of a balance of social equality and a degree of social hierarchy while opposing political changes that would result in a significant shift of society strongly to Left-w ...

, 13

conservative Conservatism is a cultural, social, and political philosophy that seeks to promote and to preserve traditional institutions, practices, and values. The central tenets of conservatism may vary in relation to the culture and civilization in ...

, one

green Green is the color between cyan and yellow on the visible spectrum. It is evoked by light which has a dominant wavelength of roughly 495570 nm. In subtractive color systems, used in painting and color printing, it is created by a combi ...

(who jumped into the conservative faction), and 4 social democratic members of the parliament in 2007-2011. The support was typically 5,000-10,000 € pro person. 90% of its funds was from three companies: Nova Group (Tapani Yli-Saunamäki) 145,000 € (36%), Suomen Liikekiinteistöt SLK (Kyösti Kakkonen) 120,000 € (30%) and Maskun kalustetalo (Toivo Sukari) 100,000 € (25%). These companies were connected with the large construction projects of shopping centres and the promotion of a new construction law. The prosecution sought in 2011 unconditional prison sentences for Merisalo and Yli-Saunamäki as Nova group leaders. Nova’s bankruptcy estate is demanded 6.2 million euros in damages from Merisalo, Yli-Saunamäki and five others. The defendants denied charges. Tapani Yli-Saunamäki has run the campaign for

Esko Aho Esko Tapani Aho (born 20 May 1954) is a Finnish politician who was prime minister of Finland from 1991 to 1995. Early life and career Aho was born in Veteli, Finland. Prior to attending university, he began a career in politics. From 1974 t ...

(president election, centre) in 2000 and Sauli Niinistö (president election,

) in 2006 and

Hannu Takkula Hannu Aapa Takkula (born 20 November 1963) is a Finnish politician and former Member of the European Parliament (MEP) from Finland. He is a member of the Centre Party, part of the Alliance of Liberals and Democrats for Europe. Early life Takkul ...

(EU parliament, Centre). Yli-Saunamäki has also been responsible of the sport sponsoring for

Nokia Nokia Corporation (natively Nokia Oyj, referred to as Nokia) is a Finnish multinational telecommunications, information technology, and consumer electronics corporation, established in 1865. Nokia's main headquarters are in Espoo, Finland, i ...

(

), the then-Minister of Defence, discussed the KMS funding of the party candidates with Merisalo ja Yli-Saunamäki already in the end of 2006 in the House of Parliament. In August 2007 Häkämies invited these KMS financiers to

sauna A sauna (, ), or sudatory, is a small room or building designed as a place to experience dry or wet heat sessions, or an establishment with one or more of these facilities. The steam and high heat make the bathers perspire. A thermometer in a ...

. Conservative MP

has been in the bribery trials. All parties are appealing against convictions started on 25. March 2013 in the broad-ranging election funding scandal connected to the Regional construction deals.

Tax haven financing

and

received campaign support from a company that was owned in

Luxembourg Luxembourg ( ; lb, Lëtzebuerg ; french: link=no, Luxembourg; german: link=no, Luxemburg), officially the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg, ; french: link=no, Grand-Duché de Luxembourg ; german: link=no, Großherzogtum Luxemburg is a small lan ...

and managed from

Virgin Islands The Virgin Islands ( es, Islas Vírgenes) are an archipelago in the Caribbean Sea. They are geologically and biogeographically the easternmost part of the Greater Antilles, the northern islands belonging to the Puerto Rico Trench and St. Cro ...

. According to Ilta-Sanomat (21.5.2008) support was given by Ahti Vilppula connected to Helsingin Mekaanikontalo. It is owned by Procomex in Luxemburg and further by Kilbrin Investments Limited in the

Court decision

The Helsinki Court of Appeal overturned MP

's (

) sentence for acceptance of bribes. In 2012, the District Court found Kanerva guilty of accepting tens of thousands of euros worth of gifts from the executives, who were seen to thereby gain influence over Kanerva’s actions as chair of the Regional Council of Southwest Finland. Among other things, the council has decision-making power over the zoning of new shopping centres. The Court of Appeal also overturned the sentences for aggravated bribery of three businessmen, Arto Merisalo, Tapani Yli-Saunamäki and Toivo Sukari. The District Court had sentenced Merisalo and Yli-Saunamäki to long prison terms. General public criticised the decision for accepting bribes in Finland.Suora linja 27.6.2013 Ilkka Kanervan lahjustuomio kaatui - mitä ajattelet?
/ref>

See more

In and Out scandal The "In and Out" scandal was a Canadian political scandal involving improper election spending on the part of the Conservative Party of Canada during the closely contested 2006 Canadian federal election, 2006 federal election. Parliamentary hearing ...

External links

Election financiers, Did the ministers and others know whose money they were getting?
{{Webarchive, url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100309175100/http://www.hs.fi/english/article/Election+financiers+/1135236506359 , date=2010-03-09 Helsingin Sanomat18.5.2008

References

Political scandals in Finland Elections in Finland 2007 elections in Finland 2008 in Finland