The former chief of the Helsinki Department of Education, Hannu Suoniemi, has been fired from his job over gross negligence after allegedly defrauding the city of millions of euros.
Suoniemi is believed to have made gains of some four million euros by defrauding the department of its IT acquisitions. Suoniemi was also found to have grievously neglected his duties.
"He violated his employer's trust in a manner that required his contract to be terminated," education department head Liisa Pohjolainen says.
A Helsinki education department release states that Suoniemi broke procedure "against laws and guidelines" in 2012-16. The department says Suoniemi made numerous IT acquisitions under 30,000 euros apiece without competitive bidding, against procurement law.
"This is an awful state of affairs. I don't know how this was even possible. The police investigation will probably answer many questions," says Pohjolainen.
Helsinki police say that the Suoniemi case is the largest corruption investigation Finland has ever seen.
Suoniemi was imprisoned in January on probable cause for aggravated fraud and aggravated abuse of an official position. He was released in late February.
Three other employees were also fired, and three more were given written warnings over the case. Staff members were found to have taken televisions, cameras and loudspeakers.
