An employee of Oma Säästöpanki embezzled the funds of the bank’s customers and his father for more than 200,000 euros – Now came the verdict

My Savings Bank the former sales manager was sentenced on Tuesday in the district court of Southern Ostrobothnia for gross embezzlement and forgery.

Kauppalehti reported Oma Säästöpankki on suspicion of a crime against a former employee for the first time already in April. The case went to court today, Tuesday.

The former sales manager of Oma Säästöpankki, who worked for the bank for years, was accused of the acts.

The victims of the crime are Oma Säästöpankki and several private individuals. The acts took place between February 2019 and October 2023.

This is what it’s all about

According to the indictment, a former employee of the bank had embezzled the funds of two different customers of Oma Säästöpanki last year, totaling just under 150,000 euros. In addition, the accused had made unauthorized redemptions of these customers’ fund shares and transferred these funds to their accounts.

The accused had carried out the embezzlement by first transferring the funds to his own father’s account and from there to his own account. The accused had acted as the manager of his father’s financial affairs.

The accused had embezzled more than 120,000 euros from the joint bank accounts of his own father and his late spouse, of which he had returned approximately 40,000 euros. The accused had illegally withdrawn money from the father’s credit card to his account and ordered one more credit card without permission. Later, the credit card bills had gone into collections. According to the prosecutor, the act had caused particularly noticeable damage to the father, taking into account his circumstances.

According to the charges, the accused had covered up his actions by stopping the sending of bank statements to the customer or by creating new bank accounts for the customers for this purpose. In the act, the particularly responsible position of the accused was taken advantage of. According to the prosecutor, the crime as a whole was outrageous.

In addition, a former employee of the bank was accused of the forgery that happened last year. He has made cash receipts for account transfers and redemption mandate documents for fund shares, which he himself signed in the names of the two victims of the embezzlement.

The material does not reveal the motive of the acts. However, according to the written evidence, the accused’s account showed a lot of spending money related to gambling.

One and a half years of probation and community service

During the hearing of the district court on Tuesday, the accused admitted all the acts and claims for compensation.

District Judge Minna Kangasmäki tells Kauppalehte that the accused was sentenced to a suspended prison sentence of one year and six months and in addition 90 hours of community service.

In addition, he was ordered to pay the claimed damages to the victims, a total of more than 190,000 euros.

The prosecutor demanded two years of unconditional imprisonment as a punishment for the acts.

According to Kangasmäki, the punishment took into account as a mitigating factor the fact that the accused has helped the police in the preliminary investigation to find out the acts and admitted them.

The judgment is not binding.

No link to Oma SP’s other messes

The criminal record was revealed to the public around the same time in the spring, when Oma Säästöpankki issued a negative profit warning and told about the lending-related irregularities that occurred within it.

Open however, it is notthat the case now before the courts is in any way related to the wider commotion that has come to light at the bank.

Oma Säästöpankki and its surroundings have been going through issues related to real estate sector lending in recent months tangle of abuses. According to the bank, the person who worked in its leading position has falsified documents and managed to manipulate lending processes.

As a result, Oma Säästöpankki has had to make a total of 55 million euros in additional provisions for possible credit losses.

Questions have arisen, among other things about the affiliations of the bank’s management and side businesses. The turmoil has also led to several personnel changes within the bank. Managing director Pasi Sydänlammi and chairman of the bank’s board Jarmo Salmi have left the company. Earlier in the spring, the vice president left the company Pasi Turtio.

The Central Criminal Police has two preliminary investigations into Oma Säästöpanki. The first is the preliminary investigation initiated by Fiva’s investigation request about suspected securities market crimes.

In addition, KRP has started a preliminary investigation at the bank’s own request, which will clarify the ambiguities that have been revealed in the bank. The suspected crimes or other details of the second investigation have not been made public.