On Friday, the Helsinki District Court acquitted 10 defendants in a criminal case against the CEO of Nokian Tires and other executives suspected of inadequate disclosure of information to the stock market.
The charges included gross misconduct and insider trading.
The case was related to a scandal in 2016 that revealed that tire inspection tests of the company’s products had been manipulated to ensure a high rating.
Ari Lehtoranta, who served as the company ‘s CEO from 2015 to 2016, and board members were charged with failing to disclose the test manipulation prior to its publication in the press. Nokian Tires no longer has a beach.
The news of the tire test manipulation scandal first came to light after Kauppalehti published a report on the subject in early 2016.
The prosecutor said the company’s management should have disclosed the information about the test manipulation immediately, as it would have affected the value of the company’s shares.
Four members of the company’s management team were accused of selling the company’s shares in the autumn of 2015, aware of the test manipulation practices.
The district court ruled on Friday that it had not been proven that the company had manipulated the test results, or that members of the management had not disclosed such information before Kauppalehti published its story.
The court further said it could not find any indications of fraud between Nokian Tires and the company that conducted the tests.
Nokian Tires said in a stock exchange release on Friday that it would not comment on the matter.