MP Antti Kaikkonen got considerable supplementary income from housing foundation chairmanship

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Nuorisosäätio, the foundation dedicated to the construction of affordable youth housing, has been found to pay generous fees to its board members. The foundation’s trustees have earned bonuses from several housing companies for doing very little work.
      The records of the buildings show that members of the board have held a number of meetings back to back at one sitting either at the Lasipalatsi restaurant in Helsinki, or in Parliament. Records indicate that meetings have often lasted just five minutes.
      Nuorisosäätio, which offers affordable rental accommodation for young people, has made headlines recently because it was found to have contributed to the election campaigns of Centre Party candidates, apparently in violation of legislation governing foundations.
      Beneficiaries have included Prime Minister Matti Vanhanen (Centre), the foundation’s former chairman, and MP Antti Kaikkonen (Centre). Kaikkonen resigned  a few weeks ago from the post of chairman, but remains a member of the board of the foundation.
      Kaikkonen has received up to EUR 20,000 from Nuorisosäätio each year in various fees. According to tax records he has collected supplemental income from various sources of between EUR 25,000 and EUR 35,000 a year during his time in Parliament.
     
Last year Kaikkonen was a member of the boards of 13 different residential buildings owned by Nuorisosäätio. Financial records indicate that the chairman of the board is generally compensated EUR 1,800 for his work.
      One building located in Kerava is the Santaniitynkuja housing company, a 68-apartment unit which was completed in 2007, and which received interest subsidies. It paid Kaikkonen EUR 1,800 for presiding over its board meetings. The compensation for the whole board was EUR 4,200.
      Some housing companies paid even more: Kiinteistö Oy Antinaravat pays the chairman of the board both a meeting fee and a monthly salary.
      In 2008 the monthly salary for the job was EUR 200, and the meeting fee was EUR 150 per meeting. In 2008, the board of Antinaravat was paid a total of EUR 8,250 in fees.
     
Managing director Harri Hiltunen of the Finnish Real Estate Federation feels that paying money outside of a foundation is not very appropriate for a builder of a housing company operating for the public good.
      “The starting point in the law on housing production for the public good is that in practice, all fees funds received form the apartments should be kept within the community, and used for the repair of the flats, and so on. In a housing company it is possible to pay a nominal compensation to compensate for one’s own input.”
      As Hiltunen sees it, Kaikkonen’s fee of EUR 1,800 as chairman is “clearly higher than that of a normal housing company”.
      Kaikkonen commented on his large supplementary income on Thursday in the middle of a meeting of the Centre Party’s Parliamentary group.
      “I consider it [the annual income of about EUR 20,000] to be a fairly large sum, but I had to do quite a bit of work for it.”
     
He explained that the reason for the massive supplementary income was the merger of the various individual housing companies, which has been going on for some time now, with the purpose of seeking new risk management and more efficient administration. “There have been more than 100 meetings each year.”
      He says that compared with other builders of rental housing, his income is not exceptionally high.
      At one point, Kaikkonen has been on the boards of 22 housing companies. During the past year, Kaikkonen has resigned from most of them.
      The links between the Centre Party and the Nuorisosäätiö foundation were explored in detail in a recent television programe that has since become notorious for allegations contained within it that the Prime Minister would have directly benefited from his position on the board of the foundation.


Previously in HS International Edition:
  RAY Chairman Vihriälä resigns in midst of election funding furore (23.9.2009)
  Vanhanen got campaign contributions for nonprofit housing foundation (21.9.2009)
  Vanhanen and Kaikkonen silent about alleged misdemeanours at Nuorisosäätiö (1.10.2009)
  Election funding causes rumblings in government (25.9.2009)

See also:
  Ilta-Sanomat: Vanhanen´s house does not contain timber claimed in YLE programme (8.10.2009)

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