In November 2000, the Finnish public service broadcaster Yle screened a documentary about Enäjärvi's extensive "good brother" networks.
"The head of the Finnish Patent and Registration Office (PRH) came under suspicion of bribery as a public official due to his part in the negotiation of a rental contract for PRH premises."In the end, no charges were pressed against Enäjärvi and it seemed as if that was the end of the story. But before long he was being subjected to more scrutiny by the Finnish media.
This time it was the turn of the public service broadcaster Yle, Finland's equivalent of the BBC.
In a documentary aired on 6 November 2000, the investigative program MOT made an effort to "get its teeth into Martti Enäjärvi's associates".
"In the MOT documentary, an in-depth investigation was carried out into Enäjärvi's associates in the upper echelons of Finnish society and his "good brother" networks..."The video (in Finnish) is accessible online here and a transcript in English is available in PDF. [PDF]
In the MOT documentary, an in-depth investigation was carried out into Enäjärvi's associates in the upper echelons of Finnish society and his "good brother" networks, including numerous clubs and associations such as the Paasikivi Society, the Rotary Association, the Tennis Club and the Helsinki Finns Club.
Enäjärvi (second from left) enjoying some fresh air and quality time on an outing with his "good brothers" from the Helsinki Finns Club in 2003.
"Amongst other things, the documentary revealed that as a result of a “reform” of the PRH in 1993, the internal auditor disappeared from the organisation chart and he was transferred to other duties. For a period of six years afterwards there were no internal audit reports."It was claimed that during this time the PRH's representatives - mainly Enäjärvi himself - double-invoiced travel expenses related to meetings of the European Patent Organisation in Munich. Travel expenses for national delegates are reimbursed by the EPO under the terms of the Administrative Council's rules of procedure, but apparently in Finland the national delegates also billed their own office.
Yle's investigative program MOT reported that Enäjärvi was fond of using his "flexible friend", the Eurocard provided to him by the PRH. The invoiced amounts are in pre-Euro Finnish Marks (1 FIM = 0.17 EUR). ALKO refers to the the national alcoholic beverage retailing monopoly in Finland and AMICA is a restaurant/catering group.
The Yle documentary also reported that Enäjärvi was fond of using his "flexible friend", the Eurocard provided to him by the PRH. However, much of the expenditure didn't appear to be related to official business.
Soon afterwards, Enäjärvi was under investigation by the Finnish authorities again. This time the investigation concerned allegations of the misuse of an official car and official funds.
"Soon afterwards, Enäjärvi was under investigation by the Finnish authorities again."According to Finnish press reports [PDF], Enäjärvi was under suspicion of violating his official duties during the years 1993-1998 by using his official car extensively for private purposes and by using more than €€ 10,000 from the PRH's official "representation funds" to cover the cost of catering at events related to his private hobbies and interests.
Enäjärvi in a party mood at the May Day celebration of the Helsinki Finns Club in 2004.
[PDF]. The official explanation given was that there was some "room for interpretation" of the rules in force at the time and that the evidence was insufficient to support a prosecution.
"Once again, Enäjärvi had managed to wriggle off the hook and the tax-payers were left to pick up the tab for his extravagances."However, the taxation issues raised by the case were taken up by the Tax Ombudsman who referred the case to the Helsinki Administrative Court for a decision.
Rather than demand that Enäjärvi himself be taxed for "benefits in kind" relating to the use of official cars and entertainment expenses, the Tax Ombudsman requested that the PRH be declared liable for uncollected taxes and social security contributions associated with these "benefits". In May 2004, the administrative court followed the Tax Ombudsman's proposal. [PDF]
Once again, Enäjärvi had managed to wriggle off the hook and the tax-payers were left to pick up the tab for his extravagances.
Enäjärvi in a party mood again at the May Day celebration of the Helsinki Finns Club in 2008.
"...his fondness for high living at the expense of the Finnish tax-payer finally caught up with him in 2010."But it seemed as if Enäjärvi's "good brothers" were holding a protective hand over him and he was probably starting to believe that he was "untouchable".
In any case, Enäjärvi didn't see fit to mend his ways and - as we shall see in the next part - his fondness for high living at the expense of the Finnish tax-payer finally caught up with him in 2010. ⬆