Male founders are required to have absolute imprisonment: Great fraudulent trial

Oulu The main proceedings in the District Court in the District Court have begun in the fraud fraud case.

The story is about product development loans worth more than EUR 6 million and a grant that has later received from the then-current Business Finland (BF) in the 2010s.

According to the prosecutor, the founders of the male Jyrki Hallikainen and Tommi Uhari The information from Tekes was concealed and gave it the wrong information to get the money. The prosecutor calls them an absolute imprisonment for gross aid fraud.

Hallikainen and Uhari have denied the prosecution. Both arrived in the main proceedings with their lawyers.

Thing At the center of the BF’s claim that the accused concealed agreements that sold all intellectual property rights in funded projects to a male Luxembourg subsidiary.

In 2011-2015, Uhari was the CEO of the company and Chairman of the Board of Directors at the time of the suspected crime. Uhari left a male in 2018.

According to Hallikainen and Uhar, Tekes knew about the patent arrangement. According to Hallikainen, this was reflected in the business plans presented to Tekes. He also says he has said in financial negotiations in 2011 that the intellectual property is owned by a Luxembourg subsidiary.

Both Hallikainen and Uhari also believe that the transfer of intellectual property rights within the Group did not violate Tekes financing terms.

Prosecutor According to the accused, the accused had also given Tekes a « obvious misleading » picture of the income expectations and social impacts related to male projects.

According to the prosecutor, in 2015, EUR 300 million was reported in the TEKES applications in 2015 and in 2016 already EUR 500 million. The applications also stated that in 2016, the male would employ 400 people.

In reality, the male turnover in 2012-2016 was less than EUR 3.3 million and there were 27 employees in 2016, the prosecutor says.

According to Hallikainen, the male’s income expectations or employment effects were a prediction based on the experience and knowledge he had accumulated by then.

Uhari has pointed out that it is by no means exceptional that a company that has received funding from Tekes does not achieve its financial goals.

« The fact that a company does not eventually achieves the results that has been sought by, of course, cannot be a crime, » the Uhar written response to the District Court writes.

Both accused also believe that the right to prosecute for a serious grant offense has already expired.

Business Finland Immediately ordered the loans and grants to be refunded at the end of 2020. According to a police investigation, the male has not shortened the loans or repaid the grant granted to it.

In the fall of 2021, STT reported that there was probably no such real business behind the great profits reported by the male. At that time, the STT also reported that the male had only paid only some of his BF loans for nearly ten years.

BF is now demanding money from Hallikainen and Uhar at the district. Both have denied BF’s claim for damages.

A gross grant fraud is sentenced to at least four months and up to four years in prison. The Oulu District Court has reserved days for the main proceedings for this and the next two weeks.