Maritime Administration head given severe reprimand over ill-judged boat rental

Port of Helsinki case to go forward for police consideration

Markku Mylly

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The Director-General of the Finnish Maritime Administration (FMA) Markku Mylly has received a severe reprimand from the Ministry of Transport and Communications over the rental for his own use of a boat belonging to the towage company Alfons Håkans.
      According to the ministry statement, Mylly should have understood that his actions could jeopardise his impartiality in dealings with the largest towage, rescue, and heavy transport company in the country.
      A severe reprimand is an unusual sanction, but it does not carry weight in terms of criminal law, being rather a serious dressing-down by a superior - in this case the Minister of Transport.
      Mylly met with Minister Anu Vehviläinen (Centre Party) on Tuesday.
     
“The rental on the boat was not the essential consideration, but the renting of the vessel from a customer company. The motorsailer was also not registered as a boat for hire, and Mylly himself asked to rent it”, commented Minister Vehviläinen.
     
At the end of October, Helsingin Sanomat reported (see linked articles) that Mylly had rented the Nauticat 33 motorsailer Anneli, belonging to the towage firm Alfons Håkans, for a holiday on Lake Saimaa in 2004.
      Mylly paid around EUR 500 for a week’s rental.
      Vessels of a similar type are being offered on the Internet at a rate of EUR 265/day and EUR 1,600/week during the high summer season, although it is possible to find cheaper offers.
     
Vehviläinen noted that the ministry considered the matter so serious that it could not be dismissed with a shrug.
      The options left were a reprimand or an official request to the police to start a preliminary investigation into the matter.
      This was deemed unnecessary in the light of Mylly’s report on the incident and the ministry’s own findings.
     
In any event a police inquiry is in prospect over the use of the boat, since the City of Helsinki has requested one as a result of the trip in the Alfons Håkans motorsailer made by Assistant Harbour Master Kaj Sarpaneva.
      The Assistant Harbour Master’s responsibilities include arranging icebreaking services in Helsinki’s harbours, and Alfon Håkans sells such services.
      In the wake of the revelations, the City of Helsinki’s Harbour Board took back for reconsideration an earlier icebreaking contract drawn up between the Port of Helsinki and Alfon Håkans.
      The Ministry of Transport will be passing the documents relating to Mylly to the police and to the Chancellor of Justice, who has requested them.
     
In the view of the ministry, Mylly acted in a most unsuitable manner when he requested that Alfon Håkans rent the boat to him.
      The Anneli was intended for the use of company personnel, and was not registered for hire.
      Vehviläinen also pointed out that Mylly had become Director-General at the FMA in the spring of 2004 and the rental occurred soon after, in the following summer.
      When the Maritime Administration was already under something of a cloud because of an earlier corruption case (see IntEd article from 2003), Vehviläinen argued that the new Director-General should have had even more reason to exercise caution and sound judgement.
     
The Maritime Administration is the authority with ultimate responsibility for maritime safety, winter traffic assistance, fairway maintenance, VTS and pilotage, hydrographic charting, and the provision of ferry services to the archipelago communities.
      The FMA also buys in services from Alfon Håkans.
      The same motorsailer has also been rented by executives at the State Pilotage Enterprise.


Previously in HS International Edition:
  Finnish Maritime Administration head denies wrongdoing over boat hire (31.10.2007)
  Maritime executives´ cruise on Lake Saimaa is to lead to police investigation (30.10.2007)
  Court of Appeal convicts Maritime Administration officials; prison sentences suspended (1.9.2003)

Links:
  Finnish Maritime Administration
  State Pilotage Enterprise

Helsingin Sanomat