The district court sentenced Katri Kulmuni’s former assistant to conditional imprisonment.
Helsinki the district court has sentenced a centrist politician Katri Kulmunin former special assistant Kari Jääskeläinen fraud and breach of duty. He was sentenced to three months of suspended imprisonment.
The judgment concerns the communication training acquired for Kulmuni, which he received from the communication agency Tekir when he was a minister. As a result of the incident, Kulmuni, the chairman of the center at the time, resigned from the position of Minister of Finance in the summer of 2020.
According to the district court, the Ministry of Finance and the Ministry of Labor and the Economy were mistaken regarding two types of training. They were organized on 3 December 2019 and 13-18 December 2019.
At that time, Kulmuni first served as the Minister of Economic Affairs and after the change of government from December 10 as the Minister of Finance.
Special assistant Jääskeläinen agreed on the implementation of communication training with Tekir. The court considered that he had caused the Ministry of Finance a loss of 13,268 euros.
I frowned according to the district court, the trainings received were related to the position of chairman of the center and not actually to Kulmuni’s position as a minister at the time. However, the trainings could also have supported the ability to perform in the minister’s work.
“In the case of the minister, however, it was not possible to make such an interpretation that the training related to the presidency would be permitted on this basis, because then all actions could be considered to always be the responsibility of the minister,” states the district court.
The coaching given on December 3, 2019 was about preparing for the A-studio program that evening. It handled Antti Rinne the formation of a new government after the government.
Party chairmen or vice-chairmen participated in the program. According to the district court, the politicians in the program primarily represented their parties and their parties’ positions in the formation of the new government.
The second training given later in the same month concerned the uproar that arose from a survey done on Kulmuni’s Instagram service.
In it, he asked his social media followers how the children should be returned from al-Holi camp. According to the district court, the topic was not related to the ministries represented by Kulmuni.
The district court rejected the charge regarding one of the training courses, because it clearly belonged to the minister. The training on December 9 was about commenting on the messages on the work list of the Minister of Finance at the press conference.
Iceman according to the verdict, gave incorrect information to officials about the purpose of the training. He acted deliberately.
In the district court’s opinion, the reprehensibility of Jääskeläinen’s act was increased by his long experience as a special assistant in similar positions. On the other hand, the reprehensibility was reduced by the fact that Jääskeläinen did not actually pursue his own interest.
Jääskeläinen denied the charges in court. According to him, the training was related to Kulmuni’s duties as a minister, not as a party leader.
I frowned his activities were not evaluated in the preliminary investigation of the case or in the trial due to his ministerial position at the time.
Ministers are subject to an increased prosecution threshold. A possible preliminary investigation into a suspected crime committed as a minister takes place at the request of the Constitutional Law Committee.
Kulmuni’s procedure in the communication training matter has been complained to the Chancellor of Justice. It will issue a decision on the matter later this year.
Kulmuni has compensated the damage caused to the Ministry of Finance.
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