Ljubljana/Helsinki- The office of Slovenian Prime Minister Janez
Jansa on Tuesday dismissed reports that he accepted bribes from Finnish
arms maker Patria.

Finnish Broadcasting Company (YLE) claimed the company paid 21
million euros (30 million dollars) to Slovenian officials to help
clinch a deal for the sale of 135 armoured personnel carriers.

In addition to Jansa, the recipients included civil servants in the country's defence ministry, the report said.

YLE said Jansa played a "key role" in the selection of Patria for
the 278-million euro deal and channeled some of the bribe money into
illegal funding for his ruling Democratic Party.

Jansa's office called the allegations "gratuitous" and said they were "completely untrue and absurd."

It said the claims were linked to Slovenia's general elections on
September 21 when Jansa is seeking a new four-year term for his
centre-right coalition.

After the allegations surfaced in mid-August, Jorma Wiitakorpi
stepped down as chief executive of Patria and was replaced by Heikki
Allonen.

Two former employees were arrested on suspicion of making illegal payments to Slovenia, Croatia and Egypt. (dpa)