March 29, 2008
Pressure mounts on Finland's foreign minister over SMS scandal
According to the Herald Tribune, pressure is mounting on Finland's foreign minister to resign after he reportedly sent raunchy text messages to an erotic dancer, an unusual scandal in a country where politics and private lives traditionally are kept well apart.
"Ilkka Kanerva initially denied reports in a magazine that he had sent about 200 messages on his mobile phone to the dancer, Johanna Tukiainen. Then he apologized publicly, acknowledging he had sent some messages, but insisted they were all work-related.
Helsingin Sanomat reports that Hymy magazine has announced it will publish the content of some of the messages next week
Originally, Johanna Tukiainen's mobile phone and the text messages on it reached Hymy through a journalist acquaintance. The magazine still has the mobile phone.
Hymy paid Tukiainen a fee for the interview, but not for the publication of the SMS messages."
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