Charges in the case included accusations of aggravated tax fraud, aggravated bookkeeping crime, and money laundering.
Helsinki District Court sentenced 44 defendants to non-suspended prison sentences. The longest sentence was five years.
Five of those convicted were found to have been involved in organised crime. Economic gain was seen to be the main motivation of the activities, which comprised serious crimes, such as aggravated tax fraud. Furthermore, the members of the group each had their own task in carrying out the crimes, and there was a hierarchy of authority among the players.
Forty defendants were sentenced to pay fines, and in one case, a punishment in another case was seen to be sufficient.
In addition to the punitive sentences, the convicted defendants were ordered to pay more than EUR 5.5 million in back taxes.
The court found that the convicts had maintained an extensive business in forged receipts, and had recruited undocumented workers for construction sites in the Helsinki region.
Originally, police had interrogated more than 200 suspects. Nearly 100 people were prosecuted. The defendants included a number of members of a motorcycle gang. The unlawful activities had continued for years at dozens of construction and reconstruction sites from the beginning of the decade.
