On Friday the Supreme Court rejected applications for leave to appeal from two Sunny Car Center executives in one of the longest-running corruption cases in Finnish judicial history.
The case centres around an ambitious--but unfulfilled--plan by businessman Markku Ritaluoma to build Europe’s largest car showroom on the outskirts of the southern Finnish city of Hämeenlinna.
The Sunny Car Center company was declared bankrupt in 2015, and Ritaluoma, along with fellow former board member of the showroom venture and ex-Hämeenlinna city council chair Iisakki Kiemunki, was ordered to return 6.2 million euros to the bankruptcy estate of the failed venture by Häme District Court in April 2018.
The two executives appealed the decision to Turku Court of Appeal but were ordered to repay the missing millions to the company's bankruptcy estate.
Friday’s decision by the Supreme Court means that the ruling by the Turku Court of Appeal remains in force, and the former executives are liable for the 6.2 million euros in damages to the company's bankruptcy estate.