Seven Flying Finn employees suspected of bankruptcy offences

Cut-price carrier enjoyed only a short time in the air

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Finland’s National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) suspects seven persons of offences relating to the financial discrepancies of the low-cost airline Flying Finn, which was forced into bankruptcy in 2004.
      According to the police, there is reason to suspect that certain assets of the company have been transferred in order to achieve considerable personal profit, and for certain payments, in order to favour some creditors at the expense of others.
     
According to the preliminary investigations by the central criminal police, considerable sums of money are involved.
      Those responsible for the financial management of the company are suspected of aggravated accounting offences, and the investigations will cover the company’s entire time of operation and its accounting since Flying Finn was set up in late 2002.
      One person is suspected of aggravated fraud relating to certain equity capital increases in the company.
      The police have questioned more than 30 persons about the suspected offences. Three have been detained, while one of them has been remanded for further proceedings.
     
The police suspected already before the 2004 bankruptcy that some of the company’s assets may have been spirited away.
      Previously the NBI has also investigated alleged aggravated debtor’s dishonesty, as the executives responsible for the operation of the company continued its operation still after the summer of 2003, even though there were no sound financial conditions to do so, according to the police.
      Based on a special audit conducted by the NBI, the cumulative loss of Flying Finn was around EUR 10.5 million when the company filed for bankruptcy, while the company’s own equity was more than EUR 7.5 million in the red.
      According to police, the bankruptcy estate of Flying Finn has as many as 26,000 creditors. Most of them are passengers who had bought tickets towards the end of the airline's brief career and were not reimbursed.


Previously in HS International Edition:
  Flying Finn struggles to avoid bankruptcy (28.1.2004)
  Low-cost airline Flying Finn files bankruptcy plea (12.2.2004)

Links:
  Flying Finn (Wikipedia)
  National Bureau of Investigation

Helsingin Sanomat