Finnish Prosecution Service - A Partner in Combating Corruption
Logo of Prosecutor General of Finland
Corruption in Finland
The level of corruption in Finland is comparatively low. For years Finland has been ranked one of the least corrupted countries in the world. The good situation is considered to be the outcome of a long historical process, which has resulted to certain significant features in our society [1]:
There is a generally accepted base of values, which includes moderation, personal restraint and the common good. These values check the pursuit of private gains at the expense of others and help to build mutual trust. The ethical and responsible behaviour of persons in important positions is considered to bring about similar attitude in other people.
There is also a comprehensive system of legislation, efficient law enforcement, a well-functioning judiciary and proactive monitoring of abuses, which guards against the abuse of power. This mechanism is strongly supported by a vigorous legalistic tradition, extensive transparency of the public administration and an independent and free media.
Adequate wages and low disparities of income are also factors, which reduce the propensity to accept bribes and curb economic greed in career building.
However astonishing it may be, according to international studies the prominence of women in political decision-making and in higher public offices correlates with low corruption levels. Finland has been for a long time, along with other Nordic Countries, a pioneer of gender equality.
The low level of corruption in Finland means in practice that only few cases of corruption are detected annually. Typical cases of corruption are related e.g. to public procurement, town planning and construction business. As an exotic curiosity, a recent bribery case connected to the leasing of icebreaker ships of Finnish icebreaker fleet may be noticed.
The Prosecution Service
From the international point of view the position of the Prosecution Service of Finland [2] may be described as a highly independent one.
The Prosecution Service falls into the branch of the Ministry of Justice, which is in charge of the financial resources of the Service. Anyway, the Service is functionally independent in relation to the Ministry of Justice as well as to the judiciary and the Council of State. Independence is guaranteed both in individual assessments of charges and in the guidance of the prosecutors. The Ministry of Justice, however, determines the general result objectives of the Prosecution Service.
The Prosecution Service consists of some 320 district prosecutors in local prosecutor's offices, 13 state prosecutors in the Office of the Prosecutor General and adequate clerical staff. The Prosecutor General is the superior of all prosecutors.
The district prosecutors have, as a main rule, authority to prosecute all kind of crime in all instances of courts of justice. Only cases with wider significance to the community, like those concerning acceptance of bribes committed by senior public officials, are appointed to state prosecutors.
In local level there is also a nationwide system of key prosecutor groups. These are groups of district prosecutors, who are specialised on definite types of crime. One of the key prosecutor groups concentrates on offences in office and corruption.
The Prosecution Service is not an actual investigative authority. The main criminal investigative authority in Finland is the Police, which is subordinate to the Ministry of Interior. One basic assumption in the Finnish criminal procedure has been that the assessment of the charges should be completed separately and independently of the investigative stage.
Even if the prosecutors are not investigative authorities, their investigative role has become more active recently. The police are by law obliged to carry out a criminal investigation or further investigations on the request of the prosecutor, as well as comply with the instructions issued by the prosecutor. Accordingly, the co-operation of prosecutors and the police is very close during the pre-trial investigation of more complicated crime like cases of corruption.
In combating corruption, low tolerance is the prevailing feature of the work of the prosecutors and the police. Relatively slight symptoms of corruption normally launch an extensive investigation.
Training of the Prosecutors
The training and upgrading of skills of the prosecutors in Finland is a task for the Development Unit of the Office of the Prosecutor General. For this end, the Development Unit runs a small but very active training entity called the Prosecutor Academy.
The training in the Prosecution Service consists of
Training Program for Junior Prosecutors, which is aimed for young lawyers who want to be prosecutors.
Basic Training for newly appointed district prosecutors.
Advanced and Continuous training, which consists of courses on definite fields of crime and other topics of prosecution work.
Training of the key prosecutors.
Leadership training.
Regional training, which is carried out by groups of local prosecutor's offices.
Training of the Clerical Staff.
Training on matters related to corruption is concentrated mainly on basic and advanced levels and on training of the key prosecutors.
The basic level training program includes a section on regulations on bribery and other forms of corruption. In the advanced level, all prosecutors have the option of attending a special course on malfeasance and corruption, which the Academy organises every two or three years. The training of the key prosecutors is individual and based on personal curricula, which are supervised by a state prosecutor. The key prosecutors participate in organising the training of lower levels, too.
Co-operation
In Finland the anti-corruption work of the Prosecution Service, the Police and the judiciary is generally regarded as successful. However, promoting the public awareness about the danger of corruption is considered to be equally important.
Therefore, some multilateral entities for this end have been established. For example, the Prosecution Service and various private and public sectors of the society are represented in Anti-Corruption Network and Anti-Corruption Working Group, which are government-backed organs with extensive fields of activities.