State removes Jukka Härmälä from Outokumpu board
Former Stora Enso CEO denounces "political" sacking - Häkämies denies claim
Jukka Härmälä, the retired CEO of Stora Enso, has been removed from his position as Chairman of the Board of the metallurgical company Outokumpu. The appointments committee of the board decided on Thursday to remove Härmälä, who joined the Outokumpu board in 2006, and to replace him with the current deputy chairman of the board, Wärtsilä CEO Ole Johansson.
Prompting the move was the state, and Defence Minister Jyri Häkämies (Nat. Coalition Party), who is responsible for the state's corporate ownership policy. The state dictates these kinds of decisions in the company, in which it has a direct stake of 31 per cent, not counting another nine per cent owned by the Social Insurance Institution (KELA).
The state owns a larger share of Outokumpu than it has in Stora Enso, which has been in the headlines recently over its pulp and paper mill closures.
Härmälä himself was angered by the decision, saying that he had discussed the matter with Häkämies.
"The minister said that the change had nothing to do with Outokumpu, or with the work that I had done there. According to him, it was politics", Härmälä said.
Häkämies said that he does not recall telling Härmälä that his removal was for political reasons. According to Häkämies, politics does not play any kind of a role in the decisions made with respect to state corporate ownership policy. "Only the interest of the company is examined", the minister insists.
So why did Härmälä have to go?
"It is purely a question of confidence. It comprises many different aspects."
Was one of these Härmälä's activities in Stora Enso - that is, does the decision concerning the Outokumpu Board of Directors link up with the controversial closure of the Stora Enso mills in Kemijärvi and Hamina?
"This was one of the matters", Häkämies admitted, but did not want to say what the others might have been.
According to Härmälä, the minister spoke to him of political reasons. He will not publicly speculate on what the political reasons might have been.
In the political debate concerning the closure of the Kemijärvi pulp mill, one reason for the move that has been offered has been the company's investments in the United States, for which Härmälä himself has admitted that the company paid too much, but whose losses have been sharply exaggerated in the heat of the controversy.
The closure of the mills in Finland has been directly blamed on the US investments. However, the company itself has constantly denied the existence of any such connection.
Härmälä says that his activities on the Board of Directors of Outokumpu have received nothing but praise, both in the appointments committee of the board and in the board's own self-evaluations. Also praising Härmälä's role is Outokumpu's CEO Juha Rantanen.
"Naturally I do not want to take issue with matters pertaining to the owners, but from the point of view of the corporate management, Jukka Härmälä has been an excellent Chairman of the Board. He has given much of his time and his professional skill, and there are no differences within the board on the strategy of the company", said Rantanen.
Helsingin Sanomat
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| 1.2.2008 - TODAY |
 State removes Jukka Härmälä from Outokumpu board |
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