The National Audit Office named the leader illegally – « We are aiming for all the proper activities at VTV »

State economy The Audit Office on VTV has been unlawful in VTV. The Supreme Administrative Court (KHO) made a preliminary ruling last week to overturn the selection.

VTV, which inspecting other authorities, was reorganized from the beginning of 2023. There were three units under the CEO: the inspection unit, the control unit and the Common Services unit.

The positions of the units of the units were only in the internal search in VTV and were filled so that the CEO Sami Upperoutinen assigned the selected persons to their duties. Appointing the task differs from the actual appointment of the post, inter alia, in such a way that the decisions cannot be appealed.

The complaint made by KHO was about choosing the director of the inspection unit. Place applied for VTV Director General Marko Männikkö First appealed to the Helsinki Administrative Court, which considered that there was no right of appeal. Männikkö continued to take the story to the KHO, who decided to take it for viewing.

According to Männikö, the place should have been filled with an established official appointment procedure.

« (Assignment to the assignment) has been internally discussed internally in the Agency. In this situation, my own view was that I went quite clearly out of what was already acceptable in the instructions.

The KHO agreed with Männikö. In its preliminary ruling, it considered that the duties of an official could not be changed by appointing his job so that his or her office would change significantly. Männikkö is pleased with the solution.

« The decision is generally relevant, as fulfillment of tasks based on a public official application procedure contributes to the credibility and transparency of the administration. »

VTV President and CEO Yläoutinen tells STT that the position of the head of the inspection unit will be placed in an open application in accordance with the decision of the KHO. The situation of the leader of the other two units is still under consideration.

« It is obvious that we strive for all the proper activities in VTV and of course we act in accordance with the KHO decision – for other leaders, we will carefully look at the solution and to assess whether the decision to give other action. »

Yläoutinen emphasizes that imposing a task is a general procedure in government administration, and that the KHO’s preliminary ruling will have an impact on it more widely than VTV.

« Task regulations have been quite commonly and well established in state administration, meaning that it is not just about VTV. It is positive that since there has been no clear interpretation of the law before, » it has now been obtained.

VTV Inspects state household management and monitors financial policy and party and electoral funding. As part of its mission, it can also look at agencies’ recruitment and staff issues.

The Office is elected by Parliament. Sami Yläoutinen followed in the task Tytti Yli-Viikariwhich Parliament was dismissed in the summer of 2021 due to suspicions of criminal offenses.

In the summer of 2023, the Helsinki Court of Appeal sentenced the Yli-Viikari to more than three months’ imprisonment. The conviction for abuse of official status concerned an agreement that paid a VTV senior inspector for two years without a duty of employment before retirement.

Yli-Viikari was also convicted of breach of official duty and the embezzlement associated with the use of the aircraft he received from his civil servants for private trips.