Finland’s National Audit Office (VTV) has opened an investigation into whether the company behind the Helsinki Garden arena failed to comply with lobbying transparency rules before securing a conditional €35 million state investment grant.
The inquiry focuses on Projekti GH Oy, the company developing the planned multi-purpose arena next to Helsinki Ice Hall. The watchdog said it will examine whether the company’s lobbying activity should have been reported to Finland’s transparency register, which requires organisations engaged in sustained lobbying of parliament or government ministries to disclose their contacts.
The audit office announced on Tuesday that the investigation forms part of its statutory role as the authority responsible for supervising the transparency register. It said it will collect and assess information before deciding whether further action is required. The agency stressed that it has not reached any conclusions and will comment further only if necessary.
The case centres on contacts made by Jan Vapaavuori, the former minister and former Mayor of Helsinki, who serves as chairman of Projekti GH Oy.
According to information previously reported by multiple Finnish news outlets, Vapaavuori contacted officials at the Ministry of Finance and members of Prime Minister Petteri Orpo’s office several times before the government approved conditional funding for the arena during its 2025 mid-term budget negotiations.
Vapaavuori had argued the contacts were considered too limited to require registration under the transparency rules. He later acknowledged that the threshold for mandatory reporting might have been exceeded during 2024.
Under Finnish law, organisations must register if they make more than five lobbying contacts with parliament or ministries during a calendar year as part of planned and sustained influence activities.
Speaking previously to Helsingin Sanomat, Vapaavuori said it was possible that more than five contacts had taken place.
The National Audit Office did not identify any individuals in its announcement. It said only that it will examine whether Projekti GH Oy should have reported lobbying activity to the transparency register.
The Helsinki Garden project has remained under political scrutiny since the Finnish government approved conditional investment support worth €35 million during its 2025 spending negotiations.
Prime Minister Orpo has said the National Coalition Party introduced the proposal during the negotiations as part of measures linked to the economy and employment, according to STT.
Orpo also told STT that he was prepared to address parliament with a prime minister’s statement on the project during the autumn session.
On Tuesday, Antti Kaikkonen, leader of the Centre Party, demanded that the government submit a formal policy statement on the Helsinki Garden project to parliament instead of making a ministerial statement later in the year.
A government policy statement would conclude with a parliamentary confidence vote.
In a statement, Kaikkonen said parliament should examine how the arena project was prepared and how the funding decision was reached.
He said that, after recent developments, it was appropriate to test whether the government still enjoyed the confidence of parliament.
Kaikkonen also said the parliamentary summer recess should be interrupted immediately if necessary to allow lawmakers to deal with the issue.
HT