Finland Times

The case is now under consideration of Kanta-Häme District Court where the prosecutor on Friday said that the former directors of Patria would be charged with bribing government officials in Croatia.

The directors, including the then Chief Executive Director of Patria armoured vehicles wing are suspected of  paying about EUR 1.5 million of bribes for the deal of EUR 50 million.

They offered to pay five percent of the total amount of the deal as bribe and already paid some amount through an Austrian consultancy firm during the period.

The trial of the case is expected to begin in August besides the ongoing trial of Patria’s armoured vehicle deal with Slovenia.

All the accused, however, denied the charges brought against them.

Earlier, on June 5, a Slovenian court sentenced the country’s former Prime Minister, Janez Jansa, to two years imprisonment on charge of seeking bribes from the Finnish company Patria.

Jansa also denied the bribery allegations. Two other people were sentenced to jail for up to two years in the same case. 

Military Group Patria rubbed with Slovenia, close to 300 million vehicles during the Prime Minister Jansa period.  

In 2011, Tampere District Court also sentenced four former Patria executives for corruption.

So far, six executives of Patria Group were charged for corruption by different courts in Finland. Five of them were accused of felony bribery and four corporate espionages.