Finland former PM denies ‘Iraq-gate’ document leak
FINLAND’S former Prime Minister Anneli Jaatteenmaki yesterday denied charges she encouraged an aide to leak documents she later used to win an election.
The former presidential aide, Martti Manninen, also in court in Helsinki, is accused of passing documents about Iraq to Jaatteenmaki ahead of parliamentary elections last year.
Manninen was charged with breaching the official secrets act, while Jaatteenmaki was accused of inciting or assisting him to break the law by leaking the classified documents.
Both defendants claim they were innocent in the trial at the Helsinki District Court. Jaatteenmaki, who was briefly Finland’s first female prime minister, resigned in June after she was accused of lying about leaking documents to the media relating to the country’s Iraq policy ahead of national elections in March 2003.
She became prime minister in April after leading her Centre Party to a narrow victory. While campaigning she used the documents to accuse then-Prime Minister Paavo Lipponen of compromising Finland’s neutrality by supporting the US-led war against Iraq.
Jaatteenmaki published excerpts from the documents on her website about a meeting between Lipponen and US President George W Bush in December 2002. Parts also were leaked to tabloids.
Speaking in court yesterday, Jaatteenmaki repeated claims she had not asked Manninen for any papers.
Manninen said Jaatteenmaki asked him for information, including documents, about Lipponen’s meeting with Mr Bush.
The case continues.
