Helsinki Police have launched an investigation into a case in which a few people have received forged invitations to the Independence Day reception scheduled for December 6th at the Presidential Palace.
The forgery was revealed when one person receiving such an invitation had suspicions of its authenticity and contacted the President’s Office on the matter.
Police are now in possession of a few of the forged invitations, and the cards are being analysed in the police laboratory.
“Visual examination shows that these are not genuine invitations”, says Kari Tolvanen of the Helsinki Criminal Police.
However, he adds that a person who has received such an invitation in the mail might not be able to tell if it is the real thing.
One big difference is that in a genuine invitation, the name of the recipient is written by hand.
Press spokespersonEila Nevalainen at the President’s Office says that this is the first time that anything like this has happened.
A total of 1,900 people have been invited to the receptions. The invitations have already been mailed.
Guests receiving invitations are been asked to contact the Presidential Office only if they are unable to attend the event. Those with forged invitations will not be getting inside, as the invitations - and the identity of the bearer - are checked upon arrival.
The recipients of the forged invitations have not been chosen at random. The tabloid newspaper Ilta-Sanomat quotes Tolvanen as saying that the recipients have a “common denominator”. However, he is not saying what the common feature is at this stage.
