Finland Times

The much talked about secret list of criminal suspects made by the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) has been found to have contained names of many prominent personalities including a former prime minister, reported the Finnish language weekly Kuvalehti.

According to the Kuvalehti, former prime minister Matti Vanhanen, former foreign minister Ilkka Kanerva and actor Vesa-Matti Loiri are among the people who were on the leaked list.

The secret register contains information about people who are believed to have committed crimes or contributed to an offence. Tens of thousands of names have been recorded in the list.

Earlier, the NBI list turned into a much talked about issue when the name of Russian President Vladimir Putin was found on it in April 2013.

The authorities termed the incident as a mistake and removed Putin’s name from the list.

Former foreign minister Ilkka Kanerva in a comment to the Kuvalehti said his name might have been included in the list due to a visit by members of the motorcycle gang Cannonball MC to his birthday party.

Former prime minister Matti Vanhanen said he is waiting for an explanation in due course. He was also concerned about the working culture of the police in relation to the registry.

Actor Vesa-Matti Loiri could not be reached immediately for his comment in this regard.

Meanwhile, National Police Commissioner Mikko Paatero said he could not comment on individual names on the list of suspects.

Paatero, however, told the news agency STT that registry will be investigated all the way down and the entries checked.

The investigations started at the turn of the year and, according to Paatero’s assessment, the work will take several months. On a general level, Paatero said name of a person may end up on the list also on the basis of a complainant’s attributes.

This can, for instance, happen if a person is under serious threat.

Interior Minister Päivi Räsänen also commented on the revelations, saying that names of Finnish politicians and cultural figures ending on the police list of suspects sounded bad.

Räsänen told the news agency STT that it is appalling to hear such names having made their way into the list.

However, Räsänen pointed out that a person’s name may end up on the list in case one is considered to be a target of threat and not only if a person has links to crime.

The minister also did not comment on individual names and pointed out that already register control have been enhanced and rules regarding record-keeping have been tightened.