Hufvudstadsbladet reported on Friday that two ex-MPs will pay compensation in the Pohjola-Norden network as part of the settlement.
Nordic The former member of parliament from the center agreed on compensation of 34,000 euros in the embezzlement ring of the support foundation of the Pohjola-Norden organization that promotes cooperation Simo Rundgren feels himself to be a victim.
Rundgren commented on the extraordinary case on Sunday by text message to HS.
“My mistake was that I did not supervise that the agent submits an up-to-date notification of changes to the Patent and Registration Board [säätiön hallituksen jäsenistä],” Rundgren wrote to HS.
“It got expensive.”
On Friday Hufvudstadsbladet reportsthat two ex-MPs and former members of the foundation's board – Simo Rundgren of the center and the coalition Anne-Mari Virolainen – have accepted a settlement proposal in which they both agree to pay 34,000 euros.
At the core of Vyyhti is Pohjola-Norden's former general secretary Michael Oksanen. He is suspected of embezzling a total of around 276,000 euros worth of the support foundation's money between 2015 and 2021 by transferring it to his own accounts.
The police investigation into the case has been completed and is on the prosecutor's desk. In addition, Oksanen is suspected of having arranged for himself a car benefit that was not part of the employment contract and of paying himself too high a salary.
Rundgren estimates that he would not have had a chance in the courtroom to succeed in the lawsuit brought by the Patent and Registration Board (PRH).
“It is difficult to do well against the state in the courtroom, and I ended up with a settlement.”
HS did not reach Virolais to comment on the matter.
PRH interpreted that three former members of the foundation's board had neglected their duty to supervise the foundation's use of money.
The audit firm BDO received the largest compensation, i.e. 164,000 euros, in the settlement. The purpose of compensation is to return the foundation's lost capital.
According to HBL, the agreement includes that the foundation will try to recover embezzled money from Oksase. If it succeeds, the two ex-MPs could get their money back.
According to Hufvudstadsbladet, former coalition politician Anne-Mari Virolainen also paid compensation in the settlement of the Pohjola-Norden case. An Estonian also served on the support foundation's board.
Rundgren's according to the whole skein feels bad.
“When you have acted in good faith and without remuneration in a position of trust for a respected organizati
on – and have become the victim of a crime in such a cruel way – this feels terrible and wrong.”
According to Rundgren, he “has not participated in the foundation's activities since 2015”. However, his name was among the board members in the foundation's announcement when PRH filed the suit.
So is your position that your name was left hanging there after you had already finished your activities in the government?
“That's what happened,” Rundgren replies.
Helsinki professor of cooperative law at the university Jukka Mähönen comment on HS in 2021 based on media information, that the foundation's board has been exceptionally inactive during the years of embezzlement. He emphasized that the government cannot blindly trust the audit.
“Yes, over the years, we have seen all kinds of activity, but this would seem to drag the foundations,” Mähönen said at the time.
Screenshot from Pohjola-Norden's website. Founded in 1924, the organization is, according to its website, “Finland's only non-governmental organization whose main mission is Nordic cooperation and making the Nordic countries known in Finland”.
Pohjola-Norden current Secretary General Micaela Röman tells HS on Sunday that the settlement reported by HBL was “the best possible news” for the foundation. Röman started his job in August.
According to him, the amount that former Secretary General Oksa is suspected of embezzling has caused a “big hole” in the coffers.
According to Röman, about 90 percent of the embezzled funds and subsequent costs have been recovered through the settlement.
However, according to Röman, both the foundation and the organization have always been of the opinion that “there is only one main suspect in the cases”, i.e. Michael Oksanen.
“I can say this because he has partially admitted his actions years ago. Of course, our idea of justice is that the main suspect should be responsible for everything here.”
Also financially?
“Yes.”
On a general level, Röman commented that the case is a reminder to all persons in a position of trust.
“The responsibility is really significant if one is not precise in one's work. In this situation, the boring reality is that it can lead to personal responsibility,” he says.
The mayor of Helsinki, Juhana Vartiainen, says he is “the one who called the police”.
HS reached out on Sunday, also the mayor of Helsinki Juhana Vartiainen (cook). Vartiainen was elected chairman of the Pohjola-Norden organization in autumn 2019.
Vartiainen underlines that he is not suspected of anything in the case of the support foundation, for which ex-MPs pay compensation. Instead, Vartiainen has gone through police interrogations related to the abuses that Oksanen is suspected of having committed in the organization himself.
“They were there for a while. Oksanen had enjoyed an unjustified car benefit before I knew about it,” says Vartiainen.
“In my opinion, I am considering charges. I hope this does not lead to prosecution or conviction, because I am the one who stopped the abuses there.”
Vartiainen says that he launched an investigation and changed the general secretary soon after receiving a tip about the abuses.
“I'm the one who called the police.”
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