Compliance Corner: OECD Frowns On Finland

Editorial Staff

16 December 2022

OECD, Finland
Finland is seen as one of the world’s cleanest countries in terms of dirty money and bribery, but the , Finland comes top out of 180 countries for being seen as the cleanest country for bribery and corruption.

The OECD said that in its Phase 4 evaluation report, the working group expressed significant concerns about the court’s interpretation of the evidence required to prove the foreign bribery offence in the cases that resulted in acquittals.

In 2021, Finland commissioned an independent study to review these decisions and conduct a benchmark assessment of the evidentiary requirements for the foreign bribery offences in other working group members. The comprehensive study was published in February 2022. Among other things, it recommended that the foreign bribery offence be revised to remove significant deficiencies that may constitute a major obstacle to Finland’s effective enforcement efforts.

“The working group is therefore very disappointed that Finland has not yet taken any steps to consider the conclusions of the study, nor given any indication as to when and how these conclusions will be taken forward by Finland,” the OECD said.

The issue is sensitive given that, in recent years, a number of Baltic region states, notably Denmark and Estonia, were hit by cases of laundered funds routed from Russia, back to the days of the former Soviet Union.