A colonel and a major who served in the Finnish crisis management forces in Afghanistan are to be charged with dereliction of duty.
State Prosecutor Jukka Rappe suspects that the officers were aware that two men under their command were taking bribes and had failed to report the activity.
Last week the Helsinki Court of Appeals confirmed the convictions of two of the former subordinates to prison sentences for taking bribes. The men, one of whom was a project engineer, and another one, who was an interpreter, had taken tens of thousands of US dollars in bribes from local contractors in return for building contracts in 2004-2006.
The new indictments are against a colonel who served as commander of the crisis management force, and a major heading the section. The prosecutor feels that they did not arrange for an investigation of suspicions of bribery by their subordinates.
Originally four superior officers were under suspicion, but the investigation was narrowed down to just two.
The officers facing the new charges will be tried at the Helsinki Court of Appeals, which is the court of first instance for trying high-ranking officers charged with military crimes. Both officers deny any wrongdoing.
