Easing expropriation of land important to security planned

Defense Minister Jussi Niinistö said on Monday the government is finalizing a bill to make it easier to expropriate real estate that could be used to endanger national security.

The statement came in the wake of a large police raid on seventeen real estate targets in the country's southwestern archipelago. Niinistö said that "recent news reports have aroused concern among citizens regarding what kind of people can purchase land here."

The police gave money laundering and tax evasion as the grounds for the police entry at the locations. "Black labor has also been allegedly used in the construction projects," the police said.

Local media reported that the targets are located near essential shipping lanes and defense installations. Law prohibits public identification of suspects, but one Russian and one Estonian citizen are in detention according the police.

Matias Warsta, a real estate specialist at the Ministry of Defense, told a Finnish language newspaper Helsingin Sanomat that current laws allow expropriation of defense grounds.

"But under new legislation expropriation would be easier, irrespective of whether the owner is local or foreign," he said.

With the new law valid probably in 2020, foreigners, for example, would have to ask for a permit in advance if they plan to purchase land near Finnish defense installations.

Taisto Toppinen, head of registries at the Finnish Land Survey, told local media that in recent years the Finnish defense forces have given up many former military exercise areas.

"The governmental real estate body has then been selling them without much attention to the background of the potential buyers," he said. "They should have been more careful."