Nova Group allegedly sought to load local councils with favourable people

print this

The real estate service company Nova Group allegedly tried to get people elected to municipal councils who it hoped would take a favourable view of the company’s interests.
      Police documents acquired by Helsingin Sanomat indicate that the minutes of a meeting held in 2006 suggests that there were systematic attempts to establish a network of investors and municipal decision makers that would promote the interests of Nova Group.
      Nova’s managers have so far justified the distribution of election campaign money as an act of patriotism, and a desire to secure the appointment of a centre-right government.
     
The criminal investigation into the election funding issue became clearer early in the week when the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) named suspects and clarified which crimes they were accused of.
      The NBI suspects that former MP and former Chairman of the Board of the Finnish Slot Machine Association Jukka Vihriälä (Centre) got tens of thousands of euros in funding from the Nuorisosäätiö youth housing foundation.
      The donation received by Vihriälä is the biggest campaign donation that investigators suspect was distributed illegally by Nuorisosäätiö.
     
“The funding received by Vihriälä was less than 50,000 eurs, but it was in the tens of thousands”, says Veli Matti Räsänen, the head of the investigation at the NBI.
      The foundation is believed to have distributed a total of about EUR 100,000 to 30 recipients. The figure is significantly larger than anything that has been made public before.
      “The benefit enjoyed by Vihriälä became the largest partly because it included proceeds from paintings that his campaign association sold to Nuorisosäätiö and its subsidiaries. In addition, Nuorisosäätiö paid for a few trips by Vihriälä”, Räsänen says.
     
The strongest suspicions of the so-called Nuorisosäätiö branch of the investigation appear to focus on Vihriälä, who is suspected by police of aggravated bribe taking and aggravated misuse of his official position.
      Police say that as a Chairman of the Board of the state-run Slot Machine Association, Vihriälä took part in decisions on granting money from the proceeds of the gaming company to the various recipients, including Nuorisosäätiö, which in turn donated money to his election campaign.
      Räisänen says that Vihriälä is suspected of aggravated bribe taking because the sums of money were large, and the activities took place over a long period of time - 2002 to 2007.
     
In Vihriälä’s case the suspicion is that both the source, and the recipient of the money were improper.
      The bylaws of Nuorisosäätiö do not allow election contributions, and the money went to a civil servant who decides on grants to the foundation from the Slot Machine Association.
      Aggravated bribe-taking carries a punishment of between four months and four years imprisonment.
     
In addition to Vihriälä, ten members of the foundation’s board who served between 2002 and 2009 are under suspicion in the case. One of the suspects is Centre Party MP Antti Kaikkonen who could face charges of giving a bribe and misusing a position of trust.
      Another key suspect is the Centre Party’s administrative chief Aki Haaro.
      In addition, Seppo Pyykkönen, a current official at Nuorisosäätiö, is suspected of misuse of a position of trust, and his predecessor Jorma Heikkinen is suspected of aggravated bribery and misuse of a position of trust.
     
All of the suspects have denied any wrongdoing.
      Helsingin Sanomat was not able to reach Vihriälä for comment on Tuesday.
     
Nuorisosäätiö was set up to build affordable housing for young people with low incomes. It is financed partly by grants from the Finnish Slot Machine Association and by state-subsidised loans.
      The National Board of Patents and Registration of Finland (NBPR) reports that the foundation’s by-laws do not permit making donations for election campaigns.
      The foundation’s board has a different view. Already last autumn, it drafted a report to the NBPR, according to which “the purpose, and the founding idea of the foundation clearly allows for activities in the area of societal influence”.
     
On Tuesday, Pykkönen said that there was confusion about the interpretation of the law on foundations. He also denied allegations of misusing his position.
      He said that the bylaws of Nuorisosäätiö do not specifically forbid participation in societal activities, and he criticised the interpretation of the NBI according to which the foundation would not have been allowed to give election contributions.


Previously in HS International Edition:
  RAY Chairman Vihriälä resigns in midst of election funding furore (23.6.2010)
  National Coalition Party and candidates to return donations from Nova Group (17.9.2009)
  Records of Nova Group bankruptcy estate show reckless spending (10.9.2009)
  Centre Party silent about major contributor (12.6.2009)

Helsingin Sanomat