Superior officer suspected of lying to police in Afghanistan bribery case

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A superior officer is believed to have lied to the police during the preliminary investigations into the recent Afghanistan bribery case.
      According to information received by the Finnish News Agency STT, the man is suspected of having given false statements to the authorities and of committing a service misdemeanour.
     
The Defence Staff Investigation Division believes that the man was aware of bribes being taken by his subordinates in Afghanistan during a period from 2004 to 2005, and yet he failed to intervene in the illegal activities.
      In June, two Finnish peacekeepers were sentenced by the Helsinki District Court to prison terms of 18 months and 15 months for accepting bribes while serving in Finnish peacekeeping forces in Afghanistan. The men had accepted tens of thousands of US dollars in kickbacks from local building contractors in connection with humanitarian aid and reconstruction projects, in which Finnish officials invited bids for contracts from outside companies.
      One of the peacekeepers served as a project engineer of the Finnish crisis management force in Kabul, while the other soldier was the main interpreter.
     
Suspicions also arose against the superior officer during the bribery nvestigations conducted by the Defence Staff Investigation Division and the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI).
      Initially, the man was interviewed as a witness, whereupon he was bound by an obligation to speak the truth. Now he is suspected of having held back that he knew about the illegal activities.
      "There have been reasons to suspect that he has been aware of these activities at least to some extent. However, on no account has he been suspected of having accepted tainted money himself or of ordering his subordinates to accept it", says Jari Peltonen, the military lawyer who heads the investigation.
     
The suspect is a middle-aged man who served as a superior officer in Finnish peacekeeping forces in Afghanistan while the illegal acivities were conducted.
      He belongs to the permanent staff of the Finnish Defence Forces and remains at his official duties.


Previously in HS International Edition:
  Two Finnish peacekeepers to go on trial for taking bribes in Afghanistan (29.5.2007)
  Peacekeepers point fingers at each other at bribery trial (11.6.2007)
  Aamulehti: Several suspects in peacekeeping bribes scandal (1.6.2007)
  Second Finnish soldier under suspicion in Afghanistan bribery case (23.11.2006)

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