Finnish Supreme Court ends mask dispute with multimillion-euro ruling

Finland’s Supreme Court has refused businessman Onni Sarmaste permission to appeal in his mask-trading dispute with the Huoltovarmuuskeskus, the country’s emergency supply agency, Yle reported. A Helsinki Court of Appeal ruling from March 2026 will therefore remain in force.

Sarmaste must pay the agency nearly five million euros in refunded purchase costs and compensation for a mask deal made in spring 2020.

The Court of Appeal, like the Helsinki District Court, found that the agency had the right to cancel an agreement signed with Sarmaste in March 2020 for the purchase of protective masks from China.

The court said the filtration efficiency of the delivered respirators and surgical masks was significantly below the standards agreed in the contract. The products could therefore not be considered the respirators and surgical masks specified in the agreement.

Sarmaste disputed the cancellation

In his application for leave to appeal, Sarmaste argued that the agency had no grounds to cancel the deal and had acted because of political pressure.

He said the Court of Appeal had excluded a substantial amount of evidence that could have significantly affected the outcome if it had been included in the trial materials.

Sarmaste also argued that his company, LDN Legal Partners, was entitled to the purchase price of just under five million euros. Alternatively, he sought nearly two million euros plus interest from the agency because of the cancellation.

The agency did not return the masks it considered unusable to Sarmaste. He argued that it had not shown the products failed to comply with the certificates provided to it.

Assets seized since 2020

Sarmaste will lose assets that have been under seizure for years, including luxury cars.

Police seized 3.3 million euros and two luxury cars from Sarmaste in April 2020 because of suspected crimes. No charges were brought against him in the case, and the criminal seizure lapsed. At the end of 2021, however, the agency sought a new seizure worth 5.1 million euros to secure its claim in the civil dispute.

The parties also tried to resolve the mask dispute through mediation, but the effort failed.