Official crimes | Several civil servants are now suspected of crimes – This is how the professor explains the phenomenon

Last in the past few months, there have been reports of several criminal suspicions of civil servants connected in one way or another to wasting taxpayers' funds or other financial abuses, such as accepting bribes.

The latest in the news is a case in which the Ostrobothnia police said the other week that they suspect several people of official crimes.

Three of the suspects have worked for Kokkola Water. According to HS's information, the suspect is, among other things, the former director of the water company Esa Jokelawho is suspected of taking a bribe and abusing his official position in 2018–2021.

Jokela, who has since retired, previously did not want to comment on the matter to HS.

The operation is suspected to be related to the ordering of construction services without a tender for approximately 250,000 euros, ambiguities in the invoicing of construction sites, and the giving and receiving of financial benefits.

Helsinki the police are currently investigating the food market commissioner Olli Wikbergin spending during the years 2020–2023.

The suspected abuse of official position is related to the use of state funds in the management of work duties, including travel and procurement.

According to Iltalehti, based on the travel and expense invoices, Wikberg's activities have been associated with disregard for state travel rules and questionable or incompletely explained procurements. For example, Wikberg has made short domestic journeys by plane and often resorted to taxis.

The Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry announced last week that it had suspended Wikberg from his duties pending an investigation. HS did not reach Wikberg to comment on the suspected crime. According to Iltalehti, he has denied that he committed the crime.

The task of the food market commissioner is to work, among other things, to “prevent practices contrary to good business practices”.

Ministry of Labor and Economy of the board of directors Olli from Sorai is suspected of grossly accepting a bribe and breach of official duty in connection with a large human trafficking network in the berry industry.

In the preliminary investigation leading up to the indictment, it was found out what kind of benefits the civil servant may have requested and whether the benefits could have ranged from silence to official activities, including law preparation.

The Central Criminal Police said about a year ago that they doubted that the bribes would have provided significant benefit and ease in the official processes related to the berry picking attempt.

Sorainen denies having committed the crime.

He has had a responsible role in the preparation of the Berries Act and in the negotiations with Thailand about pickers coming to Finland.

HELSINKI On Monday, the district court sentenced an official who worked at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs to four months' suspended imprisonment for two violations of official duty.

The man worked as a procurement manager in a unit whose tasks include, among other things, the security of the foreign mission's properties.

The civil servant who was fired since then made orders for design and material services in the name of the ministry, for which he did not have the authorization or the right to approve.

He collected state money for a phantom project he was working on, which was not blessed by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, and for which no funds were promised. According to the court, the man had concealed the conclusion of contracts and orders from his superiors.

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs estimates that the man's orders could cost the ministry up to 130,000 euros.

The official himself denied the crime. However, the district court considered the man's act to be intentional, even though he did not receive a personal financial benefit from his activity.

Helsinki professor of criminal law at the university Kimmo Nuotion according to the court statistics do not indicate a trend in which the number of official crimes is generally increasing.

“It is not necessarily the case that the financial abuses of officials have increased terribly.”

Nuotio thinks that culture has become more specific than before. The so-called compliance questions regarding compliance with the regulations have been on the agenda a lot in the past in the private sector. Nuotio's understanding is that these issues would now also be better understood in the agency world.

“My gut feeling is that the organizations that use public funds have perhaps become complacent, as it were. It may have influenced the fact that suspicions have been found.”

Nuotio estimates that one explanatory factor behind criminal suspicions may be a change in attitude and management culture in state institutions, which have traditionally been very hierarchically managed. According to Nuotion, with the change, the threshold for raising grievances may have been lowered.

According to Nuotio, the fact that financial abuses by officials or suspicions of such have been more prominent in the public eye than before may also play a role.

Things that got a lot of media coverage, like for example Tytti Yli-Viikarin case, may have served as a kind of cautionary example for state institutions.

The former Director General of the State Audit Office (VTV) Yli-Viikari was sentenced in the Court of Appeal last summer for abuse of office, breach of duty and embezzlement to a three-month suspended sentence. The verdict became final in September.

The breach of official duty and embezzlement were related to the fact that he had used flight points accumulated from official trips for his private trips.

The Administrative Court, on the other hand, considered in the decision regarding Yli-Viikari's dismissal that he had taken a reckless approach to the preparation of travel plans and travel invoices. Using VTV's funds for own styling and hairdressing expenses had also shown a lack of consideration.