Vanhanen expects detailed report from Centre Party secretary on 2007 election funding

"Nothing illegal about accepting donations"

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Centre Party chairman, Prime Minister Matti Vanhanen, sees nothing strange in the news that Nova Group contributed EUR 125,000 to his party’s Parliamentary election campaign in 2007. Nevertheless, he wants a full report on the events from his subordinates in the party.
      I cannot help but emphasise that this is quite a normal election support both on the part of the donor and the recipient. It is a natural part of democracy”, Vanhanen told Helsingin Sanomat on Friday. On Saturday, the executive committee of the Centre Party decided that all donations of more than EUR 5,000 to the Centre Party Parliamentary election campaign of 2007 would be disclosed.
     
Vanhanen insisted that there is no “scandal” taking place.
      “There is just information that has come out in public about support that one of our backers has given legally.”
     
Vanhanen had been aware of the support that was coming from Nova Group, which was first reported by the commercial television network MTV3. “I knew that the company wanted to give support. They were active.”
      Vanhanen had not wondered why the company, which is now on the verge of bankruptcy, wanted to help the Centre Party. He did not ponder in any way how the key part of a the business activities of a small company might be to give support to the Centre Party.
      He emphasised that two years ago the Centre was at the receiving end of the fundraising.
      “We do not investigate the economic situations of various donors. The company has said that it supported us and culture out of its profits. It is lawful to donate money and to receive it.”
     
Isn’t a donation of more than 100,000 euros, the biggest single donation for the Parliamentary election campaign for the Centre Party, something that the party chairman should be aware of?
      “We have a clear distribution of labour. The party secretary deals with practical matters, such as fund-raising for the elections. I don’t know how much other supporters have given.”
     
Vanhanen says that he knows hundreds of supporters by name, but not according to the amount of money that they contribute. Again, he mentions the division of labour between the party chairman, and the party secretary. “I do not take issue with work involving the party secretary”, adding that he has other matters to concern himself with, such as his job as Prime Minister.
      “I am not a lawyer, but the party does not have a unilateral right to disclose its donors.”
      Vanhanen speculates that a list of all of the donors of the more than half a million euros that the party got in monetary support would undoubtedly make for interesting reading, and would clear up some of the mystery linked with the matter. He emphasises that not a single euro of the money has been spent to support his personal election campaign.
     
So does Party Secretary Jarmo Korhonen enjoy the confidence of the party leader?
      “The party congress chooses the party secretary. He will give a detailed account of what has happened to the executive committee of the party leadership.”
      So does he have your support?
      “The party congress decides on the party secretary.”
     
Party Secretary Korhonen believes that Vanhanen did not know the exact sums of money involved in corporate support for the election campaign. “Perhaps he know the general level of support, more or less.”
      He adds that the party does not have a single association working for it now, “and it will not have any in the future every again”.
      Korhonen says that he personally gave the orders for all bank transfers of the Menestyvä Suomi association. He says that “most” of the more than EUR 500,000 in donations can be seen in the party’s annual closing of the accounts. Korhonen says that he moved most of it to the party’s overall marketing effort.
      “I was the only one to give orders on payments.”
      Korhonen notes that support from Nova Group came in two phases, and that the group volunteered its support.
     
Both Vanhanen and Korhonen got to know the name of Tapani Yli-Saunamäki who was in the management of Nova Group.
      Korhonen now has money forthcoming from Saunamäki: in 2008 the company supported the Centre Party by taking out an advertisement in a newsletter that was distributed during the party congress, but it never paid for the ad.

More on this subject:
 Centre Party to disclose donations of over EUR 5,000
 National Coalition Party and SDP do not plan to disclose their election supporters just yet

Previously in HS International Edition:
  CEO of Nova Group claims Centre supports real estate company in zoning issue (30.5.2008)
  Prime Minister warns of political crisis stemming from election campaign money affair (21.5.2008)
  Centre Party silent about major contributor (12.6.2009)

Helsingin Sanomat