The minutes of the Board of the Olympic Committee will henceforth be made public.
Jan Vapaavuori repeatedly repeatedly that due to reasons of secrecy, Mika Lehtimäki’s warning could not be told. There would have been “maybe” detours. Jenni Gästgivar
To the former head of the top sports unit of the Finnish Olympic Committee Mika Lehtimäki the associated noise leaves for an outside investigation. This is stated in a press release published on Wednesday.
The Ministry of Education and Culture has asked the Olympic Committee to clarify whether its rules are in line with the principles of good governance. It also asked for clarification as to whether the committee’s management had acted correctly in Lehtimäki’s case.
A small group consisting of the presidency and the CEO appointed Lehtimäki for the next term, although the rest of the board was unaware of Lehtimäki’s warning last autumn. A warning was issued against harassment of women.
The answer given by the Olympic Committee can be read from here.
In its reply, the Olympic Committee states that the appointment of Lehtimäki was “ethically and morally problematic”. The presidency had used an outside lawyer to find out what it could tell the government about Lehtimäki’s harassment and warning.
Vapaavuori himself stated several times at press conferences that it was not possible to tell more.
Still, the response states that the goal of its “good governance to build trust and satisfaction” under its corporate responsibility program was not achieved.
– In terms of transparency, the obligations of professional secrecy are very restrictive. The case might have been different, for example: a) by conducting an open search for the position, b) finding a way in which the warning could have been described to the government, or c) asking Lehtimäki to tell the government itself, the reply says.
The place was not put in an open search, but an offer was made to Lehtimäki for the next season.
Minutes made public
The event related to Mika Lehtimäki will go into an external investigation. Jussi Eskola
The Board of the Olympic Committee will hold a discussion with its member organizations. The member organizations have expressed the requirement that the report of the Lehtimäki Harassment Court must be ordered from an independent, external party.
A discussion event will be held on May 2.
The Olympic Committee was also told that in the future, all the minutes of its board will be published on the Olympic Committee’s website.
– We want to increase transparency in informing about the work of the government. We will publish the minutes from yesterday’s meeting and we will also link them to the Board bulletins on the Olympic Committee’s website, said the Chairman of the Olympic Committee Jan Vapaavuori.