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Last week, Central Criminal Police searched the Tallinn city centre office of a young entrepreneur known for his vainglorious lifestyle. The search, taking place in one of the Tornimäe twin towers, was, according to Public Prosecutor’s Office, prompted by an international plea for legal assistance from Finland.
For more than a year, the Finnish police are investigating an SMS fraud scheme initiated in their country, which consisted in the following: people received mobile text messages containing loan offers; for answering the message, a large sum of money was required from the people.
Invoices were sent even to people not desiring a loan. For increased turnover, those desiring loans were made to run back and forth between many companies. Which did not mean they eventually got the loan. The weird service was offered to Finns under the names of Europankki, Mobiilivippi, Hetivippi and other names like that.
The SMS fraud, allegedly conducted with the participation of Mr, has been condemned in Finnish media as stinking scam organised by Estonians. The Finnish police launched an official investigation, as a result of which a request was filed to have hes office searched. Mr denies being tied to the fraud. According to the young man’s version, he rather was an investor in good faith in the case. Indeed, Mr is attempting to put up a façade of and benefactor motivated by social values, supporting those in need.
Last year, the business daily Äripäev assessed Mr’ assets at approximately €5m. The source of such wealth is unknown, wherefore Mr, operating in all kinds of business sectors – from aviation to real estate – under a company has been considered a mere undercover frontman.
The general public knows Mr by his car park, valued at about €1m. For instance, he entered into Estonian registry a Lamborghini Aventador costing over €300,000. For daily driving, last year, he used an Aston Martin Rapid. In addition to that, he also has a number of cheaper vehicles, costing about €100,000 apiece, to his name. Mr has told the media that these cars do not belong to him.
Provision of small loans is not unlawful (Added 31.05.2013)
Companies which provided financial services on the Finnish market did not consciously infringe the Finnish law and use unfair methods in provision of the service to the consumers. Provision of small loans is not unlawful and on-going investigation of the Finnish police concerns only technical details which do not alter the loan provision process into criminal activity as it has been considered in the Estonian press. Today I have no connection with the Finnish companies in question. The situation wherein it is attempted to link me with possible infringement on the Finnish market is extremely unpleasant for me and also damaging to my reputation as the investigation is still on-going. I have cooperated fully with the Finnish police in order to resolve the issues under investigation promptly and by now some of the procedures have been terminated without bringing any charges. I am not able to comment on the specific content of the investigation until the process has been terminated, but I am on a position that keeping in mind the presumption of innocence it is unjust to link me with possible unfair activities on the Finnish market. I have accomplished my success with activities on different markets that have been mainly related to real estate projects and IT sector. Provision of financial service on the Finnish market has been my only like activity and even this was unprofitable. It is unfortunate that my success has been considered disreputable in the articles published in Estonia thus far.