Finland’s Bankruptcy Ombudsman decided on Thursday morning to order a special audit of the real estate service company Nova Group. Bankruptcy Ombudsman Eeva Arko-Koski says that a decision on the matter was made late Thursday morning.
Nova, which went into bankruptcy early this week, was a major contributor to the election campaigns of candidates running in the 2007 Parliamentary elections, with hundreds of thousands of euros going to the Centre Party.
Nova Group was sharply criticised by its own auditor for careless use of money.
The auditor wrote in a statement given in connection with Nova Group’s closing of the accounts, that the company has spent money on purposes that have no immediate justification from the point of view of business in amounts “that cannot be considered reasonable, considering the state of the company and other conditions”.
The company has had considerable cash flow. A Nova project in Rovaniemi received an investment of about EUR 20 million from the Local Government Pensions Institution (KEVA).
The investment was endorsed by KEVA CEO Markku Kauppinen, who is also an important figure in the Centre Party. His connections with Nova Group took on new dimensions this week when it was revealed that he had taken part in a meeting to discuss Centre Party election financing in 2007.
Kauppinen has denied that he had been involved in financing political parties through Nova.
