Pekka Paavola (born 3 August 1933 in

Tampere Tampere ( , , ; sv, Tammerfors, ) is a city in the Pirkanmaa region, located in the western part of Finland. Tampere is the most populous inland city in the Nordic countries. It has a population of 244,029; the urban area has a population o ...

) is a

Finnish Finnish may refer to: * Something or someone from, or related to Finland * Culture of Finland * Finnish people or Finns, the primary ethnic group in Finland * Finnish language, the national language of the Finnish people * Finnish cuisine See also ...

politician, Minister of Justice in the 1972 cabinet, and a convicted criminal in multiple cases. Paavola was a city manager in

1969–1985. He was the

Minister of Justice A justice ministry, ministry of justice, or department of justice is a ministry or other government agency in charge of the administration of justice. The ministry or department is often headed by a minister of justice (minister for justice in a ...

in the 1972 Rafael Paasio's cabinet. He was convicted of corruption in so called Noppa Case in the 1980s, when he was found guilty of misusing office for personal gain. Paavola was manager in the newspaper company Lehtimiehet Oy and later in the magazine company Yhtyneet Kuvalehdet. He retired in 1996. He returned to politics in 1992 when he was elected to Tampere city council on the Pro Tampere ticket. He later formed the Tampere Independents group. In 2002 he was convicted of aggravated

tax fraud Tax evasion is an illegal attempt to defeat the imposition of taxes by individuals, corporations, trusts, and others. Tax evasion often entails the deliberate misrepresentation of the taxpayer's affairs to the tax authorities to reduce the taxp ...

. He received a 10-month suspended prison sentence. The city council dismissed Paavola in 2002, but he was elected again in 2004. In December 2006 he was elected as a chairman of the council with a support from the Conservatives, Christian Democrats, The Centre and the Greens. He still has a good reputation among many ordinary people in Tampere. He was on

city council until 2008. On 31 December 2009 Paavola was handed a four-month suspended sentence for

perjury Perjury (also known as foreswearing) is the intentional act of swearing a false oath or falsifying an affirmation to tell the truth, whether spoken or in writing, concerning matters material to an official proceeding."Perjury The act or an inst ...

in a case related to Maija-Liisa Lahtinen.

References

1933 births Living people Politicians from Tampere Ministers of Justice of Finland Social Democratic Party of Finland politicians Finnish politicians convicted of crimes Mayors of places in Finland Politicians convicted of corruption People convicted of tax crimes {{SocialDemocraticPartyFinland-politician-stub