Corruption in Finland

Finland's overall corruption is relatively low, according to public opinion and global indexes and standards. The 2024 Corruption Perceptions Index released by Transparency International scored Finland at 88 on a scale from 0 ("highly corrupt") to 100 ("very clean"). When ranked by score, Finland ranked second among the 180 countries in the Index, where the country or countries ranked first are perceived to have the most honest public sector. Finland has ranked first, second or third every year since the current version of the Index was introduced in 2012. For comparison with 2024 worldwide scores, the best score was 90 (ranked 1), the average score was 43, and the worst score was 18 (ranked 180). For comparison with regional scores, the best score among Western European and European Union countries was 90, the average score was 64 and the worst score was 41.

According to a 2013 Transparency International survey, an overwhelming majority of people in Finland do not witness cases of corruption by public officials or institutions in their lifetime. Existing corruption tends to be structural, arising from a network of wealthy individuals who favor each other in business; private companies have no disclosure requirements. The few instances of corruption involving the government include decision-making in state investments, political donations, and election funding. Non-traditional types of corruption in Finland (common globally) include tax evasion, gifts, hospitality, and conflicts of interest.

Finland signed in 2002 the European Council GRECO criminal law against bribery. Finland demanded two exceptions in bribery law that have been signed e.g. in neighbour lands Estonia and Sweden. In May 2019 exceptions were still not taken into force in Finnish criminal law against bribery.

A 2008 Transparency International report noted a remarkable lack of transparency in Finnish political finance, reinforcing demands for greater transparency; in 2007, the Groupe d'États Contre la Corruption (GRECO) stressed that corruption should be better noticed in election financing. The 2007 Finnish campaign finance scandal erupted the following spring, with nine government ministers and several members of parliament lacking transparency in their election-funding reports. Since the law had no penalties for false fund reporting by elected politicians, the conservative National Coalition Party and rural Centre Party have not demanded the resignations of the convicted politicians. According to the 2009 Act on Candidate Election Funding, presidential candidates, parliamentarians, and deputies must declare all funding for an election campaign; donors of over €1,500 must be named.

Two-thirds of state and municipal public servants are appointed from political parties, of which only five percent of Finnish citizens are members. Article 6 of the constitution of Finland states that everyone has an equal right to public jobs, and selection should be based on capability and expertise. The number of political appointments of public servants has been criticized as excessive, and the parties determine public-sector salaries.

Prime Minister Jyrki Katainen claimed to fight unreported employment or undeclared employment income but, according to Markku Hirvonen, resources and initiatives in Finland have been insufficient to reach this goal. Two hundred tax officers examined tax havens in Sweden in 2013; 100 officers worked in Denmark, 80 in Norway, and 10–20 in Finland. Although investigations of unreported employment income found Sweden €100 million in previously unpaid taxes, Finland found none. In Sweden, unlike Finland, all international transactions above 150,000 Swedish kronor (about €15,000) are required to be reported to tax officers.

According to Taloussanomat, Finland loses €320 million in annual taxes to tax havens. The business watchdog organization Finnwatch reported that Finnish companies, including the nation's top 20 companies, have 438 subsidiaries in countries classified as tax havens.

Germany bought LGT Bank data from Heinrich Kieber in 2008. According to the data, about 20 Finns evaded taxes amounting to €50-60 million; this was the country's largest known tax avoidance case. All names have been kept secret, and authorities have been criticized for not doing enough to prosecute tax evaders.