UPM Chairman Vainio denies using pressure in whistle-blowing decision

Vesa Vainio, Chairman of the Board of the paper manufacturer UPM, denies accusations by the company's former CEO Juha Niemelä that Vainio had been alone in pushing through a decision to disclose involvement in a paper cartel.
      "The board made a unanimous decision on the matter. The members of the board were familiar with the background that the decision was based on", Vainio said in an interview in a television news interview on Wednesday.
     
Vainio emphasised that the chairman of a company's board, where decisions are collective, cannot make decisions on behalf of the whole board.
      He also said that Juha Niemelä was present at several meetings where the matter was discussed, although he could not take part in the decision itself, because a conflict of interest would have been involved.
      Asked if he was disappointed with Niemelä's decision to make public accusations, Vainio responded: "I do not want to take personal stands, because this is a matter for the company", he noted.
     
Vainio also made a public appearance on Wednesday at an exhibition of the Amos Andersson Art Museum, where he announced planned cooperation of six private art foundations.
      Vainio chairs the Merita Art Foundation, and the originator of the new exhibition. He had agreed to open the exhibition several months ago, before the cartel affair emerged.
      "I do not want to comment on the matter of the cartel investigations", Vainio said to the financial newspaper Taloussanomat before the opening. He added that his views came out in a statement issued by UPM on Monday.
      He said that the whole affair is a personality dispute developed by the media.


Previously in HS International Edition:
  European Commission drops paper cartel investigation (17.11.2006)
  Former UPM CEO Niemelä: Cartel affair linked with resignation (5.9.2006)
  Victory for Finnish paper manufacturers in cartel dispute (10.8.2006)
  Paper maker UPM gets massive fine for leading role in industrial bag cartel (1.12.2005)
  Document reveals strict conditions for severance package for ex-UPM CEO Juha Niemelä (31.5.2005)
  Juha Niemelä unexpectedly resigns as CEO of UPM-Kymmene (30.1.2004)