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Tue, 24 Feb, 2015 12:01:47 AM FTimes – STT Report, Feb 24  File Photo – Lehtikuva. The European Union Commission suspects the City of Helsinki offered an unjustified loan to a bus company in Helsinki named Helsingin Bussiliikenne (HelB).
HelB is a subsidiary fully owned by the City of Helsinki, which enjoys approximately 22 per cent of the total bus traffic in the capital city region.
Another competing bus company, Nobina, filed the complaint in October 2011.
The EU Commission has begun investigations and suspects that the terms of loan offered to HelB were not based on the market situation but, instead, were offered on cheap terms.
Thus, the EU Commission claims that the loan was unjustifiable.
Furthermore, the EU Commission also suspects that a bus depot located in the Ruskeasuo district of Helsinki was rented to the bus company on terms considered too favourable.
The City of Helsinki has dismissed the allegations and says HelB did not accrue from unjust benefits.
The city also holds the terms of the loan which took into account the market situation were in no way exceptional.
Furthermore, the terms for renting Ruskeasuo depot correspond to the rent paid for lease of similar premises in other parts of Helsinki.
Following the allegations, the EU Commission will investigate the terms of the loan as well as renting of the depot.
The EU Commission may call for corrective measures, if it finds that the company benefited from unfair advantage.
The EU Commission may order the beneficiary, in this case HelB, to pay back the gained benefits.
The total revenue of the company was 81 million euros last year.
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