Former CEO of the mining company Talvivaara, businessman Pekka Perä, gave the tax administration erroneous information in seeking about € 1.3 million in tax breaks, according to a decision by the Supreme Administrative Court on Monday.
In its decision, the court ruled that previous decisions by the tax authorities and the Supreme Administrative Court based on incorrect information must be annulled.
In practice, this means that the tax administration will have to make new decisions on Perä’s economy from those years. At the same time, the tax authority is also reviewing the EUR 1.3 million tax relief previously granted to Perä.
Perä told Yle that he did not want to comment on the matter.
"I am not aware of such a decision, so I cannot comment on it in any way," The stern told Yle over the phone.
“Absolutely exceptional”
Olli Mäenpää, a former judge of the Supreme Administrative Court and professor of administrative law at the University of Helsinki, said "quite exceptional" the Supreme Administrative Court to set aside the tax decision of the previous court.
However, in an email sent to Super, he said that in this case, the court seems to have a good reason for the decision because its decision was based on incorrect information.
The decision of the Supreme Administrative Court did not specifically identify the Stern, and referred only to the named person "A." However, Yle has confirmed that the decision specifically concerns Perä.
"Providing false information for tax evasion is tax fraud. So I saw it on a general level. If the right to prosecute has not yet expired, there may be a reason for it [for police] initiate a preliminary investigation" Professor of Criminal Law Matti Tolvanen said about it.
Both Tolvanen and Mäenpää commented on the case based on the court’s decision and did not take a position on who was actually affected.
Years of legal struggles
There have been several legal battles behind him in recent years, including environmental and financial issues over the Talvivaara mining company.
Most recently, the Helsinki District Court dismissed the charges against Perä and two other defendants on the stock market in the summer of 2020.
Talvivaara Mining Company is the parent company of the Talvivaara Sotkamo mine in Kainuu, Eastern Finland. The government began rescuing the bankrupt mining business in August 2015 and initially gave more than € 100 million to buy the company and renamed it Terrafame.
At that time, the Talvivaara mining company owed almost half a billion euros to creditors, while mining clothing owed almost one billion euros.
Source: The Nordic Page