Finnish police open investigation into Google’s Muhos data centre site

Finnish police have opened a criminal investigation into Google’s data centre site in Muhos, in the north of the country. The Oulu Police Department is investigating suspected environmental damage at the site, which Google’s local subsidiary, Tuike Finland, runs.

The police announced the investigation on Thursday. It began at the request of the Finnish Supervisory Agency, Yle News reported. The department has received five requests to investigate the Muhos site. It will handle all five in the same probe. Police may add other charges as the work goes on, they said.

Preliminary information points to “ambiguities and deficiencies in drainage and water management at the construction site of Tuike Finland Oy’s data centre project”, the department said, in Agence France-Presse’s translation.

Police expect the investigation to take a long time and aim to finish it in 2027. They plan to share more information in December, Agence France-Presse reported.

Work stopped since October

The Muhos site is part of Google’s €13bn Finnish investment, announced in September. Tuike Finland cleared about 330 hectares of forest there before finishing the required environmental assessment. The Guardian put the loss at an estimated 250,000 trees.

The supervisory agency ordered the company to halt work at Muhos and at a second site, Kajaani-Otanmäki. The assessments for both were unfinished. The company confirmed on 14 October that it had suspended preparatory work at both sites, Yle reported.

The agency also found Tuike Finland’s water plans too weak. They did not show the company could control the effects on water. The agency has given the company until 5 November to submit a detailed plan. The plan has to cover heavy rain, snowmelt and the acidic black shale soils in the area, according to Yle. If the company does not act, the agency may move to formal enforcement, including a conditional fine.

Google’s position

Google said it is cooperating with the investigation, in an emailed reply to Henna Mäkikallio of Yle.

“We are actively responding to questions from LVV and other authorities. We are cooperating in the investigation that Oulu police announced on 29 October, and we will continue to focus on ensuring that our sites operate in line with requirements,” Google said, in TNW’s translation.

Antti Järvinen runs Google in Finland. He apologised for the forest clearances in an interview with Yle on 13 October. He said Google had acted on the best understanding it had of the legislation at the time.