Misuse of funds, info most common suspected corruption cases in Finland: study

The most common suspected corruption cases in Finland involve the misuse of funds and information in business operations and public administration, according to a study commissioned by the Police University College.

A study entitled Corruption Crime Reported to the Police in Finland 2007–2023 (Poliisin tietoon tulleet korruptioepäilyt Suomessa 2007–2023) prepared based on police crime report data published on Wednesday provides a long-term overview of corruption detected in Finland, said an official press release.

Suspected corruption cases were identified in sectors covering construction, healthcare, education, local government, security authorities, politics and non-profit organisations. The data also included cases related to police activities, such as unauthorized access to information and the misuse of official positions for private purposes.

The study showed that corruption cases reported to the police in Finland are predominantly forms of corruption other than bribery.

During the most recent monitoring period, from 2019 to 2023, a total of 741 corruption cases were recorded. Of these, 13 per cent were related to bribery, a proportion that has remained stable since 2007.

The majority of cases involved other forms of corruption, such as misuse of funds, misuse of trade secrets and other information, and the unauthorized use of official information.

“When discussing corruption, attention is often focused on bribery. However, our study shows that the vast majority of cases reported to the police involve other types of corruption. In particular, the misuse of funds and information in working life stands out in the data,” said Vesa Muttilainen, Senior Researcher of the Police University College.

The most common benefits associated with corruption were money and information. Money was the sole benefit in more than one-third of cases and information in over one-quarter of cases. Companies were the most common parties involved in examined cases, with more than half of all cases involving a business.

Misuse of funds accounted for nearly a third of all corruption cases. Moreover, an employee, manager, or other person in a position of responsibility was suspected of using an organization’s funds or assets for personal gain.

The second most common category was the misuse of information for financial purposes, such as the use of business secrets or customer data in competing activities.

The study also includes brief descriptions of 156 cases randomly selected from the 2019–2023 data.

The study also identified changes in the handling of corruption cases. Between 2019 and 2023, fewer than half of all cases proceeded to prosecutorial consideration, and this proportion has steadily declined. Suspects were typically male, middle-aged, Finnish citizens, and employed as professionals, managers, or other employees.