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Home NATIONALCustoms DG faces crime charges
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Sat, 30 Jan, 2016 01:13:39 AM
FTimes- STT Report, Jan 30
 
The Director General of Customs, Antti Hartikainen. File Photo Lehtikuva.
The Director General of Customs, Antti Hartikainen is suspected of violation of secrecy of communication and breach of official position.
 
The Ministry of Finance invited him to a meeting scheduled to be held early next week to hear from him before taking any punitive action.
 
If necessary a decision of suspension against him may also be made during the meeting, said the ministry's communication chief Liinu Lehto.
 
“The goal (of meeting) at the beginning of the week is to get a decision and its jus-tification forward,” Lehto said.
 
The ministry is taking the allegations which have come to the knowledge of the public very seriously.
 
Lead investigator, detective Jukkapekka Risu said there are no other suspects other than Hartikainen at this stage.
 
The suspected offences according to Risu took place last autumn and are not related to Hartikainen's previous enquiries. Similarly, Lehto confirmed this to be a separate issue.
 
The breach of official secrecy entails the opening of confidential message. This may be, for instance, reading of email addressed to another person or listening to calls.
 
Finnish language daily Karjalainen reported that Hartikainen commented about the issue on social media site Facebook terming the suspicions unfounded.
 
Hartikainen denied suspicions that he violated the secrecy of communication. 
 
He told the news agency that that reports of the offence are based entirely on incorrect assumptions and are totally unjustified.
 
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