Former UPM CEO Niemelä: Cartel affair linked with resignation

Retired paper boss turns 60

Juha Niemelä

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Juha Niemelä, the former CEO of the Finnish paper company UPM-Kymmene, admits that the company’s decision to approach competition authorities and blow the whistle on itself and its competitors over involvement in a price-fixing cartel was one reason for his resignation from the company’s management.
      Previously, UPM and Niemelä had spoken of a need for a generational change in the company’s management.
      In an interview with Helsingin Sanomat marking his 60th birthday, Niemelä would not say if he feels that the admission would have been necessary. On the other hand, he says that the EU's decision to terminate its investigation into the matter did not come as a surprise to him. There was no evidence of illegal activities.
     
"When I resigned in January, I was not allowed to talk about the legal proceedings. If I had said at that time that something related to that had been the cause of my resignation, I would have caused serious damage. Officials were preparing the matter in secret."
      Now Niemelä explains his resignation by pointing out that he had served for six years on the board of the Confederation of European Paper industries (CEPI), and represented European paper factories in the unofficial world forum.
      "If I had not resigned, an impossible situation would have ensued. In the organisation I would also have represented competing companies, and at the same time my own company would have made a move like this. I would not have been capable of acting in such a two-faced manner."
      "Hence it was better for me to give up my post, and my successor was also not left with the burden of my company’s decisions. I carried this burden when I left."
     
For about two years Niemelä has had to wait for decisions by officials both in the United States and the European Union. In the USA he has been granted immunity from prosecution, and the EU recently called a halt to its investigations on fine paper dealings, after finding no evidence of a cartel.
      "That decision did not come as a surprise. When you know what you’ve done, you don’t expect the unexpected from officials. However, in big companies, many things happen that do not necessarily come to the attention of the CEO."
      Niemelä officially begins his retirement on Wednesday, when his obligations toward UPM come to an end.


Previously in HS International Edition:
  Document reveals strict conditions for severance package for ex-UPM CEO Juha Niemelä (31.5.2005)
  Competition Authority refuses to hand over documents in forest industry cartel case (7.6.2004)
  Minister Pekkarinen sees paper cartel allegations as blow to Finnish reputation (28.5.2004)

Helsingin Sanomat