Vanhanen thanked Merisalo for assistance soon after 2007 election

Matti Vanhanen

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Centre Party leader, Prime Minister Matti Vanhanen thanked Nova Group businessman Arto Merisalo for the financial assistance that he provided the party in the 2007 Parliamentary elections.
      The gratitude was expressed soon after the election in an e-mail in which Vanhanen responded to a previous message from Merisalo. The exchange of messages is part of the police investigation material acquired by Helsingin Sanomat concerning the activities of Kehittyvien Maakuntien Suomi (KMS), an organisation set up by a group of businessmen for the purpose of raising funds for political candidates of their liking.
      Police suspect Merisalo and Tapani Yli-Saunamäki, along with others involved in KMS, of making a false entry into an official registry, as well as bookkeeping crime. The matter is now under consideration by prosecutors.
     
In his message to Vanhanen, Merisalo congratulates him for the good election result “on behalf of the whole KMS team”, which comprised “Kyösti Kakkonen and Seppo Saastamoinen of Tokmanni, Masku’s Topi Sukari, Motonet’s Lauri Juntunen and the Toivanens of Suomi-Soffa, as well as Palmberg’s [Risto] Bono, and us from Nova”. The last is a reference to Merisalo himself and Yli-Saunamäki.
      The list of names is significant, in that so far, Vanhanen has claimed that he did not know of any other contributors behind KMS except for Tapani Yli-Saunamäki.
      Vanhanen himself received an election campaign contribution of EUR 10,000 for the 2007 election.
     
When asked about the e-mail on Tuesday, Vanhanen told Helsingin Sanomat that he could not remember the matter.
      “I guess something like that has probably come. I get plenty of e-mails, and I try to answer them quickly. If there was some kind of a list in one of them, do people expect me to remember it years later? It would be impossible.”
     
In his reply message, Vanhanen takes up a proposal in which Merisalo asks if Vanhanen would lay the cornerstone of a Tokmanni logistics centre in Mäntsälä.
      There had been speculation in Helsingin Sanomat and other media outlets as to why Vanhanen had taken part in the cornerstone ceremony along with Kyösti Kaikkonen of the Tokmanni retail chain in Mäntsälä in 2007. There was speculation at the time that the event may have been linked with election financing in some way.
     
Vanhanen met Merisalo and Yli-Saunamäki as well as Markku Kauppinen of the Local Government Pensions Institution (KEVA) at his official residence of Kesäranta already in January 2007. At that time the businessmen agreed to try to raise EUR 200,000 for the Centre Party.
      In the spring of 2008 Vanhanen said repeatedly that he did not remember any such meeting. He said that he had spoken of contributions to his own campaign with Yli-Saunamäki once in the café of the Finnish Parliament.
     
After the elections, in May 2007, a party was held at Kesäranta for the financiers. Plans for such a party were made initially in the e-mail exchange between Vanhanen and Merisalo.
      Helsingin Sanomat has learned that all of the suspects have denied committing any crimes. District Prosecutor Katriina Lyytikäinen confirmed on Tuesday that because of a backlog of cases, it will not be until the autumn that a decision is made on the possible pressing of charges.


Previously in HS International Edition:
  CEO of Nova Group claims Centre supports real estate company in zoning issue (30.5.2008)
  Vanhanen refuses to accept sole responsibility for election funding row (28.9.2009)
  Election funding causes rumblings in government (25.9.2009)
  Campaign funding: Vanhanen lashes out at opposition, denies lying (3.6.2008)

See also:
  Police investigation suggests Tiura lobbied on behalf of election campaign donors (13.4.2010)

Helsingin Sanomat