Kone CEO Antti Herlin asks for investigation of Financial Supervision Authority

Antti Herlin

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Antti Herlin, CEO of elevator and escalator manufacturer Kone, has asked for an investigation into the activities of the Financial Supervision Authority (RATA) in connection with the leak of a RATA investigation into suspected insider trading. Herlin says that he read about a preliminary investigation into his suspected activities in Helsingin Sanomat in late May last year.
      However, the first item on the Herlin family's dealings with shares in Partek was published as early as August 2002.
      State Prosecutor Pekka Koponen decided last week not to press charges over dealings with Partek and Kone shares in 2001 and 2002. RATA and the police suspected that the Herlins had known already then that Kone was planning to acquire control of Partek.
      Kone made a public offer to buy Partek in May 2002.
     
Herlin did not make any public appearance himself; speaking on his behalf was his lawyer Kai Kotiranta.
      "It cannot be a part of the Western legal system for someone suspected of a serious securities crime to have to read about it first on the front page of Helsingin Sanomat", Kotiranta charged.
      Herlin wants a thorough investigation into the legality of actions taken by officials, and to that end, he asked the National Bureau of Investigation to look into the activities of RATA and the police.
      "My client says that he could not have been treated any worse by the officials", Kotiranta reiterated.
      In the weekly news magazine Suomen Kuvalehti Herlin himself characterises the actions of the officials as "Kafkaesque". He is especially angered at the behaviour of RATA.
      In his view, the only possible source of the information leaked to Helsingin Sanomat was the police or RATA.
      Kotiranta says that Herlin would not have had any reason to call into question the need for supervision of securities trading, or investigations linked with it, both of which he sees as necessary parts of a functional securities market. His criticism focuses on how the matters are handled in Finland.
     
The Financial Supervision Authority says that it also wants the leak of information to be thoroughly investigated. RATA deputy director Anneli Tuominen said on Friday that RATA had gone through its procedures many times, and did not find any failings.
      Tuominen hopes that the source of the leak will come out in the investigation.
      She added that RATA uses all possible means to make sure that the police are able to conduct their investigations in peace. For this reason, RATA sometimes finds itself at loggerheads with the media, because it usually only makes public the number of cases under investigation or in which there is suspicion of wrongdoing.


Previously in HS International Edition:
  No insider trading charges against Kone CEO (3.2.2005)
  Kone CEO and secretary of board suspected of insider trading (29.8.2005)
  Police suspect Kone CEO of insider trading with Partek stock (23.5.05)

Links:
  RATA - Financial Supervision Authority

Helsingin Sanomat