Appeal court reopens Airiston Helmi financial crime case

Yle reports that the Turku Court of Appeal has begun hearing the financial crime case involving Airiston Helmi and Russian millionaire Pavel Melnikov. Both Melnikov and the prosecution appealed the district court’s ruling.

The district court sentenced Melnikov to a one-year-and-six-month suspended sentence for aggravated tax fraud and aggravated accounting offence. It dismissed the charge of aggravated fraud involving employment pension insurance contributions.

Special Prosecutor Petri Rautio said prosecutors are seeking convictions on all three charges and tougher sentences. They are also seeking penalties for Airiston Helmi employees over undeclared wages.

Melnikov’s defence is seeking the dismissal of all charges, including those on which the district court convicted him, said defence lawyer Kai Kotiranta. Melnikov is expected to appear in person later during the proceedings.

Prosecutors are no longer seeking a sentence or a harsher penalty on the grounds that the offences were committed as part of an organised criminal group. The district court rejected that view, and prosecutors have accepted its decision on that point.

Melnikov is being tried alongside four other defendants. At the district court, prosecutors sought unsuspended prison sentences of varying lengths for people of Russian or Ukrainian background, but the charges were dismissed.

The case has attracted public attention for years. It began in 2018 when police raided properties owned by Airiston Helmi in the Turku archipelago. Some of the properties were sold during the police investigation and court proceedings.

The district court said last year that the case documents related to the financial crimes totalled more than 9,000 pages. More than 20 days have been set aside for the appeal hearing.