Politicians Rush to Return Campaign Funds from Nova Group
Image: YLE uutisgrafiikka
Finland's major political parties and figures are lining up to return campaign funds donated by the now-bankrupt real estate company Nova Group. The latest luminary to join the refund campaign is Parliamentary Speaker Sauli Niinistö.
Parliamentary Speaker Sauli Niinistö of the National Coalition Party was among the politicians queuing to return campaign money he received from the troubled real estate developer Nova Group.
Niinistö paid back nearly 4,000 euros a few days ago. The Speaker was said to have received 10,000 euros in campaign support from the Association of Developing Provinces or KMS. The dailies Ilta-Sanomat and Iltalehti report that Nova Group also directly funded Ninnistö's presidential bid in 2006.
Another National Coalition MP, Marja Tiura, has also returned funds to the Nova bankruptcy estate.
Yesterday, she admitted that the company had indeed paid for a trip to Thailand in 2007 but that she had repaid the sum two weeks ago. She had earlier denied that Nova Group paid for the flight.
Nova Group is accused of channelling large sums of money into the KMS despite its own shaky finances.
The National Coalition Party said it has returned a total of 46,000 euros received through the KMS from Nova Group.
It seems no one has remained above the taint of the funding scandal, with the opposition Social Democratic Party revealing yesterday that it paid back just under 4,000 euros to the company's bankruptcy fund.
YLE