The Lavish Corporate Hospitality: The Lawful and Unlawful Interaction of Public Officials and Private Sector Actors — Law and the Court Praxis in Finland
Public officials can be offered hospitality, excursions, seminars or different kinds of benefits by the business sector. These kinds of benefits can be seen to be a customary practice or the management of public relations. Finnish law does not give any clear-cut answers when a certain benefit can be seen as lawful (as a gift) or unlawful (as a bribe). The aim of this research is to clarify, based on the Finnish Criminal Code, by Finnish case law, as well as soft law instruments, the thin line between unlawful and lawful benefits in this business–public sector interaction. The article also discusses the concept of the management of public relations which the Finnish courts have mentioned as the factor that can justify the benefits given to the public officials by business sector.