OMBUDSMAN POWERFUL

Press, Volume CIII, Issue 30539, 7 September 1964, Page 11

OMBUDSMAN POWERFUL

(N.Z.P.A.-Reuter)

HELSINKI.

Finland’s ombudsman, who is elected by Parliament, wields far more power than his counterpart in Sweden, where the office originated. No field of public activity lies outside the legal domain of the Finnish ombudsman. His door is open to any person or organisation with a complaint against bureaucratic treatment by officialdom.

“The case of the bad mark” is already celebrated in Finland. In this incident, the victim of the Ombudsman was the University Examination Board which had produced a controversial matriculation examination in mathematics. The Ombudsman investigated the case after newspapers had raised an outcry. He found that one problem given in the examination was outside the scope of the school syllabus. He demanded an explanation from the board. The board finally admitted that the complaint was justified. It received a strong reprimand from the Ombudsman and a warning not to do it again. Finland really has two Ombudsmen. The other is the Chancellor of Justice, who also handles complaints against authorities.

Two Men

But the two men work out their own dividing line in the cases they handle. Each re-

frains from interfering in the other’s work. The parliamentary Ombudsman is always one of the nation’s leading lawyers. His salary at present is £4600 a year, the same as that of Supreme Court Judges. The “case of the bad mark” illustrates how all-embracing the powers of the Ombudsman are. When Finland left Swedish rule in 1809 and became an autonomous Grand Duchy of the Czarist Empire, the Ombudsman became the procurator and was empowered to report to the Emperor himself. This sometimes took considerable courage. When Finland became independent in 1919, the office of Ombudsman was written into the Constitution. Although it was still based on the Swedish system, the Finnish office contained several differences. The Finnish Ombudsman was given much more power and independence than his Swedish counterpart. He can prosecute local government officials, for example, investigate Cabinet Ministers and impeach them. What is more, although Parliament elects him, it cannot dismiss him. It can only refuse to re-elect him when he has served his four-year term. Like Cabinet Ministers, the Finnish Ombudsman takes priority over ordinary members in addressing'sittings of the House. He even has the right, rarely exercised, of attending Cabinet meetings. He initiates proceedings against officials, but he seldom prosecutes in person. The Ombudsman receives about 1000 complaints and petitions a year. On investigation, most of them prove to be unfounded. In addition, the Ombudsman handles about 60 cases a year on his own initiative. For instance, his office scans every newspaper printed in Helsinki every day. The news sometimes brings to light a case which requires investigation. The Ombudsman has duties which in other countries are handled by special branches of the Administration. He personally . makes inspection tours of prisons and hears prisoners’ complaints. These are numerous.

He also inspects personnel of the Defence Forces. Every conscript soldier has the right to bypass official channels and bring his complaint direct to the Ombudsman, although very few -do.