Deputy Mayor of Helsinki he was caught illegally painting graffiti on the wall of a railway tunnel, which cost maintenance services €3,500 to clean up.

On Friday night, security guards caught Paavo Archinmäki, 46, and a friend of the deputy mayor finishing graffiti on the wall of a railway tunnel in the southern Finnish city of Vandaa during traditional summer solstice celebrations.

Eero Liechu, of the Finnish Transport Infrastructure Agency, told AFP that the clean-up work took three and a half hours on Monday and cost 3,500 euros.

Archinmaki, head of Culture and Entertainment of the municipality of Helsinki, apologized in a message he posted on Facebook.

“It was really stupid of me, of us. In a way, I was fooled by the thought that one can paint on this type of gray concrete wall that is already painted and it cannot be seen,” he wrote.

“It was completely reckless. It was even more stupid as there are walls on which you are allowed to paint,” he added.

Helsinki Mayor Johanna Vartiainen didn’t seem amused at all by this.

“The actions of Deputy Mayor Archinmaki in this case were reckless,” he estimated, according to a statement.

(The deputy mayor) “understands the seriousness of the situation,” he said, stressing that he had contacted Archinmaki.

The graffiti contained the terms “global dominance and major career changes”.

Police are investigating for causing property damage and disrupting rail traffic.

Archinmäki, a former MP and former chairman of the Alliance of the Left party, told Finnish media that he did not believe his actions were serious enough to force him to resign.

He was Minister of Culture and Sports from 2011 to 2014.