Prosecutors have brought charges of fraud and malfeasance in a public office against a former adviser to Katri Kulmuni (Cen), who served as Finance Minister for six months up to June 2020.
The case is linked to media training Kulmuni received during her time as a minister.
According to the prosecutor, the special adviser had mistakenly or deliberately used their position to invoice the Finance Ministry for training to the value of around 13,700 euros.
The adviser had therefore breached rules governing officials' actions and, as an official, breached their official duties.
The adviser has denied all charges. According to the prosecutor, no other witnesses have been interviewed besides the suspect, who the prosecutor declined to name.
Kulmuni had several advisers, and it has been reported that the person responsible for the training was Kari Jääskeläinen, but he declined to comment to Yle.
Kulmuni received the training in 2019 and 2020 from the consultancy firm Tekir. It was unclear at first who paid for the training, and whether the training was related to her role as a minister or her political role as leader of the Centre Party.
Kulmuni resigned as Finance Minister soon after the news broke, and was replaced as Centre Party leader in September 2020 after a year in charge, when she lost an internal party election to Annika Saarikko.