Wealthy Finnish businessman hit with $129,544 speeding fine
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Based on the severity of his offense and his income, Anders Wiklöf failed the system.
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Finnish police officer directing drivers on a highway (AFP)
In Finland, where fines are assessed as a percentage of the offender's income, a multimillionaire businessman who drove 30 km/h (18.6 mph) over the limit was given one of the highest speeding fines in the world: €121,000 ($129,544).
The main newspaper for the Åland Islands, an autonomous Finnish territory in the Baltic Sea, quoted 76-year-old Anders Wiklöf as saying, "I really regret the matter" and, "I had just started slowing down, but I guess that didn’t happen fast enough. It’s how it goes."
When he was flashed at 82 km/h, Wiklöf, the chairman and founder of a holding company that earns €350 million annually, claimed the speed limit "suddenly" changed from 70 km/h to 50 km/h.
The severity of the offense and the offender's income are taken into account when determining fines for traffic infractions in Finland, as is customary in the Nordic region. Police can instantly verify this information by connecting via their smartphones to a central taxpayer database.
A "day fine" is determined under the Finnish system using the offender's daily disposable income, which is typically regarded as being equal to half their daily net income. The number of days a driver must pay a fine increases the more they are over the limit.
An aggravating aspect was the fact that Wiklöf had previously received two speeding fines. Additionally, his driving privileges were revoked for ten days.
The businessman, whose name is on the Wiklöf Holding Arena in Mariehamn, was fined 63,680 euros ($ 68,176), five years after receiving a 95,000 euros ($102,000) citation for the same infraction.
He said he hoped the fee, equivalent to half his discretionary income over two weeks -- would be spent usefully. "I have heard the government wants to save €1.5bn on healthcare in Finland, so I hope that my money can fill a gap there," the man stated.
For a variety of offenses, including shoplifting and violating securities and financial trading regulations, Finland imposes sliding-scale penalties under the principle that, just as taxation is progressive, so too should fines: the more you make, the more you have to pay.
In 2002, Anssi Vanjoki, a prominent Nokia executive, was fined €116,000 after being discovered doing 75km/h on his Harley-Davidson in a 50km/h zone.
Switzerland, which employs a similar income-based system, is said to have issued the biggest record traffic fine: Sfr3,600 a day for 300 days, or approximately €1.1m, for a Swedish motorist caught speeding at 290km/h between Berne and Lausanne.
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