Finnish media including top daily Helsingin Sanomat report that ex-CEO of Nokian Tyres, Kim Grahn is refuting claims that his company cheated in tyre quality tests to raise the stock market price.
Grahn sent out a release on Monday, claiming that the accusations of fraud have all been put forward by people guilty of industrial espionage or related parties.
"These claims are figments of these people's imaginations intended to impugn the company," he writes.
Another alternative put forwards by Grahn is that the accusers do not understand the factors affecting share prices.
However, HS reports that Grahn admits to his company's tyres being "tuned and tweaked", something he says used to be common in the industry. Grahn worked as the company's CEO from 2002–2015.
Nokian Tyres admitted in February to rigging the tyre quality tests on its products. As in other listed companies, Nokian's chiefs were rewarded with dividends when the share prices rose.