The National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) confirmed on Thursday that it considers 46-year-old Hannu Kailajärvi as the main suspect in Finland’s biggest economic fraud case.
The NBI has issued an international arrest warrant for Kailajärvi.
The Tampere native is suspected of having run the WinCapita investment club, which collected about EUR 100 million from 10,000 Finns.
The money was to have been used for profitable currency speculation, but police investigations indicate that it was a pyramid scam.
Kailajärvi has been missing since March. He was believed to have been hiding on Spain’s Costa del Sol, but more recently, rumours have put him in Central America or Thailand.
The NBI is asking that anyone knowing anything about Kailajärvi’s movements should contact the police. Investigator Maria Vuorivirta Heikkinen does not want to comment on his possible whereabouts.
“There are plenty of rumours floating around. During this investigation we have interrogated many people. We have made numerous domestic and foreign enquiries. Now we also want observations.”
Police are investigating the involvement of about 40 people in the activities of WinCapita. A total of EUR 15 million on their bank accounts has been confiscated or sequestered.
More than 1,000 criminal complaints have been made about WinCapita, for damages totalling EUR 13.3 million. The greatest number of complaints have been made in Kuopio (78), Helsinki (69), and Oulu (61).
Criminal complaints are coming in from WinCapita victims on a daily basis.
