A Centre Party official helped pave the way for the sale of land to a company which contributed large amounts of money to the Centre's election campaigns, reports the newspaper Kaleva.
The party's director of development, Lasse Kontiola, served on Rovaniemi's city council last autumn, and helped push through zoning reforms which made possible the sale of property to a company called Nova Group.
Nova Group is a major contributor to the business interest group KMS, which has been at the centre of a recent campaign finance crisis for funnelling large contributions to certain MPs' campaigns.
Kontio had direct access to KMS funds while the Rovaniemi city council was changing zoning to allow Nova Group to purchase an industrial plot of land. Despite the conflict of interest, the daily Kaleva reports that Kontiola did not recuse himself from the decision-making process.
Now 29 Rovaniemi city councillors are demanding an explanation on the actions of the chair of the city council and other local officials in relation to the Nova Group sale.
