A prosecutor has called for suspended prison sentences to be handed down to two former senior officials at the National Audit Office (VTV) as trial proceedings began at Helsinki District Court on Wednesday.

Former Auditor General Tytti Yli-Viikari and her former colleague Mikko Koiranen face charges of aggravated misconduct in a public office and malfeasance in a public office. Both defendants have denied the charges.

The case relates to an employment contract that allowed a VTV official to receive a salary for two years without doing any work.

According to lead prosecutor Mari Mattila, the official was employed as a Chief Inspector from June 2016 until the end of July 2018 on terms that did not require the individual to do any work.

"If there is equality in the organisation, and all the inspectors are on the same level, then I don't know how that can be true if one employee is paid for not doing anything at all for two years," Mattila told the court, adding that a total of about 67,000 euros was paid to the official over the course of the two-year contract.

The official in question had been served with a warning about failing to perform their duties in November 2015, and an occupational health consultation followed a month later, during which options such as sick leave or a reduction of job responsibilities were discussed.

However, according to the prosecutor, Yli-Viikari and Koiranen became impatient with the pace of the process and in April or May 2016, at Yli-Viikari's request, Koiranen began preparing the two-year contract as an alternative to ending the official's career.

"Apparently Koiranen and Yli-Viikari lost their patience as handling the case had taken too long," Mattila said, adding that the terms of the contract agreed with the official were not legal.

Yli-Viikari is also expected to face charges of payment fraud and misconduct in a public office over the suspected misuse of Finnair Plus points.

The probe into Yli-Viikari's tenure as Finland's top auditor began after media reports in the summer of 2020 suggested that she had spent about 5,000 euros of public money on hairdressing and beauty services. There were also separate questions over her use of Finnair Plus flight points.

The subsequent investigation by the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) uncovered evidence of the two-year salary payments made by the VTV to the official.

Parliament unanimously decided to dismiss Yli-Viikari from her role as Auditor General in June this year. The decision marked the first time Finland's Parliament has dismissed such a high-ranking civil servant