Court of appeal sentences ex-Nokian boss, employees for securities breach

Helsinki – The Helsinki court of appeal has sentenced several former Nokian employees, including ex-CEO Ari Lehtoranta, for a securities market information offence, Nokian announced on 10 April.

The case, related to events from 2015–2016, alleged that the company's board of directors and CEO at the time had failed to disclose information affecting the value of the company’s securities in December 2015.

Additionally, according to the charges, four company employees had engaged in insider transactions with stock options at the end of 2015.

While the district court dismissed all charges in 2022, the court of appeal on 10 April sentenced Ari Lehtoranta and three other employees to fines.

Furthermore one employee received a suspended prison sentence of four months and 15 days for misuse of inside information.

Nokian was also ordered to pay a corporate fine of €50,000 but was not found to have engaged in malpractices in magazine tests as alleged in the charges.

The court, however, dismissed the charges against former board members Hille Korhonen, Raimo Lind, Inka Mero, Hannu Penttilä and Petteri Walldén.

"We are surprised by the judgment of the court of appeal," said Kai Kotiranta, the company's attorney-at-law.

"We will go through the verdict carefully and assess separately whether there is reason to apply for leave to appeal to the supreme court."

The judgment of the court of appeal is not final.