Politics
Corruption
The Mother of all Affairs?
12.09.2008
According to the Finnish Broadcasting Company (YLE), Prime Minister Janez Janša accepted a bribe from Finnish arms maker Patria to help finalise the purchase of armoured personnel carriers for the Slovenian army. Janša denied the allegations and announced a legal action against the YLE.
On the first Monday in September, the Finnish national television, in the investigative journalism programme MOT, accused the Prime Minister of Slovenia, Janez Janša, of having taken bribes in connection with the sale of 8x8 armoured modular vehicles of the Finnish defence equipment manufacturer Patria to Slovenia.
Specifically, in a programme entitled “The Truth about Patria,” the reporter Magnus Berglund, among others, stated that Patria paid a total of EUR 21 million in bribes in Slovenia. According to the reporter, the recipients included several unnamed civil servants within Slovenia’s Defence Ministry and politicians, while one of the names on the list was “J”. This, according to the reporter, was the Slovenian Head of Government, Janez Janša.
Tracking Down the Money
Although, in order to protect his sources, the reporter offered no concrete evidence to the viewers, he claimed to have all the necessary documents to back the charges. The story about Patria had been made as carefully as all the other MOT programmes, assured the producer Matti Virtanen. “We have information from several sources - in Slovenia, in Finland, and within Patria,” he asserted.
According to Berglund’s statements, Wolfgang Riedl, Patria’s representative in neighbouring Austria, received EUR 14 m to be used for the bribes. Allegedly, the money was then distributed to Slovenian-Canadian businessman Walter Wolf and Slovenian painter Jure Cekuta. “The contacts were clearly defined: Riedl deals with Patria, Wolf takes care of the Slovenian politicians and Cekuta handles the civil servants at the Ministry of Defence,” explained Berglund.
Pre-election Smear
Wolf and Cekuta both denied any involvement in transfer of the money and so did the Prime Minister. The PM’s office characterised such allegations as “untrue and absurd,” stating that Janša never met anyone from Patria. Moreover, the government was neither directly nor indirectly involved in the selection of the best bidder for the APC deal, explained the cabinet.
Furthermore, Janša was convinced that these accusations were clearly connected to the pre-election period in Slovenia, where parliamentary elections are scheduled for September 21st. He added that he had never seen another case like it, where a television station from one country had got involved in the election campaign of another.
Berglund rejected such allegations by saying that he was not interested in the Slovenian campaign or elections. Every claim made in his show was backed up with documents that were verified by a number of sources, he added.
Nevertheless, the Slovenian government has officially demanded that the television channel apologised and presented evidence for the claims. The Finnish broadcasting company replied that the programme was based on several reliable sources and, as far as YLE was concerned, the matter was closed, while Berglund explained that the documents would be made public once the Finnish police handed the case over to the prosecution and when legal proceedings began. Meanwhile, the Slovenian Government announced it would take both, the YLE and the journalist to the court over the charges.
Diplomatic Intervention
Prime Minister Janša was also in direct contact with his Finnish counterpart Matty Vanhanen. After the talks between the two leaders, the Finnish PM said he could not interfere in the public broadcaster’s editorial policy. The Slovenian Foreign Ministry then delivered a diplomatic note to the Finnish ambassador in Ljubljana, warning the matter might “shake mutual confidence” between the two countries.
Furthermore, Slovenian Defence Minister Karl Erjavec announced that he would freeze a EUR 278 million deal with Patria if the Finnish arms maker failed to explain why its staff had been questioned by the police over corruption allegations.
Berglund also uncovered another scandal involving Patria last year, in which they bribed officials in Egypt in a deal involving the sale of howitzers. Due to corruption investigations, Jorma Wiitakorpi last month stepped down as chief executive of Patria, although he denied any wrongdoing.