A former employee of the funding organization is accused of spending Finnish citizens’ taxes on vacations, home renovations and school fees while living in the United States.
Preliminary investigations by the Finnish authorities have revealed that Finnish authorities have actual jurisdiction in a matter involving a former employee of American Business Finland (BF) who is suspected of stealing millions of dollars of Finnish taxpayers’ money. It turned out that
The public works funding agency announced that between 2011 and 2017, bookkeeping fraud totaled US$4.8 million, or approximately €4.4 million at current exchange rates.
“Based on the results of the preliminary investigation, there are reasons to suspect that a crime has occurred and the Finnish authorities have the authority to conduct a criminal investigation. The preliminary investigation has been initiated by the public prosecutor’s office,” police said in a press release. .
Last September, Finland’s National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) opened a preliminary investigation into the alleged misuse of public funds in connection with the operation of state-owned FinPro. FinPro is now part of the business promotion agency Business Finland.
Business Finland filed a civil lawsuit against a former employee in U.S. court in 2018, but the case was sent to bankruptcy court after the employee filed for bankruptcy last spring.
BF suspects that this employee misled FinPro by falsifying bank statements. In 2021, news magazine Suomen Kvaleti reported that the person used the funds for a luxury vacation in France, home renovations, country club memberships, and private school tuition.
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