Häkämies urges state-owned enterprises to disclose donations to parties

State-owned Patria gave political donations to parties in 2007 elections

print this

Minister of Defence Jyri Häkämies (Nat. Coalition Party), who is responsible for state holdings in listed companies, urges state-owned enterprises to be open about their contributions to political parties.
      “It is up to each company to decide what to do, but I would urge them to do it”, Häkämies says.
      Minister of Economic Affairs Mauri Pekkarinen (Centre Party) says that he would be willing to consider banning party funding for companies in which the state has a majority holding.
      Pekkarinen, who was responsible for the supervision of matters related to armaments manufacturer Patria Industries at the time of the 2007 Parliamentary election, did not know about the contributions.
      Häkämies, meanwhile, is not willing at this point to actually ban state-owned companies from making political contributions to parties. He wants to wait for upcoming reform of election finance legislation and the related debate, because “there is no urgency”.
     
Patria has told the Finnish News Agency STT that it contributed a total of EUR 16,000 to various political parties in connection with the Parliamentary elections of 2007.
      The National Coalition Party received EUR 6,000. The minister responsible for state ownership policy of the company, in which the Finnish state has a 73 per cent holding, is Minister of Housing Jan Vapaavuori (Nat. Coalition Party).
      “I was not aware that Patria had supported the National Coalition Party”, he said.
     
Asked if a minister responsible for state corporate ownership is in a position that would allow him to make a corporate donation to his own party, Vapaavuori said that it is very hard for him to conceive of a model under which this would be possible.
      He noted that decisions on donations are made by the operative management, or the board of directors, and not the minister, adding that if a minister tried to influence a company to make political donations, it would be a clear misuse of the minister’s position.
      Vapaavuori also points out that at the time that the donations were made, the minister responsible for matters related to Patria was Mauri Pekkarinen and not him.
      Another Centre Party member, Seppo Kääriäinen, served as Minister of Defence at the time.
     
Vapaavuori feels that state majority-owned companies should be able to act like other companies.
      “I have the view that several state-owned companies have been involved in supporting election activities, and I don’t see anything wrong with that, as such.”
     
On Saturday it came out that the financial concern Sampo donated EUR 17,000 to the National Coalition Party.
      Not all of the members of the Sampo board were aware of the donation. Instead, the National Coalition Party made a direct approach to Björn Wahlroos, who was the CEO of Sampo at the time.
      The Finnish state is the largest single holder of Sampo shares. However, unlike Patria, its holding is only 14 per cent.
     
A leading expert in political finance said in an interview with STT that financial support by state-owned companies to political parties is very questionable from the point of view of democracy.
      The expert, who asked to be kept anonymous, noted that it is quite common in Europe that donations by companies with state ownership are banned. The reason for this is that state-owned companies are, in the final instance, under the ownership of the citizenry, which means that the use of corporate money for the selective support of political parties distorts political financing.
     


Previously in HS International Edition:
  Election funding stir is not manifested in parties’ approval ratings (31.7.2009)
  Prime Minister denies accusations of lying over campaign finance issue (17.6.2009)
  Two Slovenian citizens wanted in Patria bribery case (8.5.2009)

Helsingin Sanomat