Public bodies have in recent years outsourced a lot of their functions to private companies. As an administrative measure it has a lot going for it: private companies can be more efficient and therefore save money, even if they take a little profit as well.
But Helsingin Sanomat carries a story on Monday outlining one possible negative side-effect. The National Bureau of Investigation says that the shift could bring a serious risk that corruption goes unpunished. Right now public officials are subject to one set of criminal sanctions, usually investigated as official malfeasance, with a very low threshold for starting an investigation.
That's because public money is involved and citizens have a right to know it's being used appropriately. Businesses, on the other hand, are investigated under bribery laws with a much higher threshold for police action. They're also more difficult to investigate as less information is made public, says the NBI's Juha Lalli.
What's more, the basis of bribery legislation is to protect companies from employees who might steal from them, not to guarantee fair competition. A recent court judgement found that defendants cannot be convicted if their management even tacitly allowed their actions--a problematic precedent when the individual and the company might be siphoning off public funds.
Kimi and Minttu's dream wedding
Kimi Räikkönen is one of the best-known Finns on the planet, and he is wildly popular in his home country. It's only natural, then, that his wedding to the lovely Minttu is occupying hordes of tabloid journalists as they fight over who has the bets scoops, pictures and stories from the happy couple's Tuscan nuptials.
The coverage and pictures are here and here, but the real scandal was uncovered by Ilta-Sanomat. As an event of international importance, the wedding was also covered by the Daily Mail--and they got it wrong.
IS reports that the Mail was delighted and gushing in its article on the celebrations, describing Minttu as beautiful and Kimi as stylish, but they did make one horrible error: describing the bride as a former underwear model. That's inaccurate, she was a flight attendant before giving up work to be a full-time Formula 1 driver's wife.
Home from home in Rio
When travelling abroad athletes can often miss some home comforts. The food, sights, sounds and smells they're used to. Taking little mementos along for the trip can make all the difference between a settled and relaxed athlete and one who is worried and fretting.
So perhaps it's no surprise that Finland's track and field team at the Rio Olympics settled on the village of Penedo as their base ahead of the Olympics. The camp, located between Rio and Sao Paulo, has a large reindeer and Santa Claus monument, a restaurant named after Finnish cinnamon buns and elf-hatted chocolate and ice cream.
Yes, they found the most Finnish location in South America, and Ilta-Sanomat paid them a visit.
"What kind of place is this?" asked pole vaulter Wilma Murto when she first arrived, according to IS.
The answer is of course a utopian retreat founded by Lutheran pastor Toivo Uusikallio in 1929. It advocated vegetarianism and abstinence from coffee and acohol, but by 1940 the community had collapsed. The Finns stayed on though, and there remain a couple of dozen Finnish speakers who help maintain the traditions, and who are very pleased to see the Finnish team arrive.
"The team's decision to come here for their camp was a great source of pride and happiness in my old age," said local Laura Ampula, who speaks Finnish and is helping out at the team's meal times in Penedo.