Finland Levies Rs 1 Cr Traffic Fine On One Of Its Richest Men

Karma hits hard, especially when the authorities rendering justice are from Finland.

Recently, a 76-year-old multi-millionaire was slapped with a whopping 121,000 Euro (over Rs 1 cr) traffic fine in Finland. Anders Wiklof was caught on the road driving 30 km/h above the speed limit in the area.

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The country is known for rendering fines that are calculated according to an offender's income as well as the seriousness of the crime. The speeding ticket that was levied on Wiklof was equivalent to half his disposable income for the whole of 14 days.

However, rather than blaming the system, the millionaire was rather gracious about it all. He told local publication Nya Aland, "I really regret the matter. I had just started slowing down, but I guess that didn't happen fast enough. It's how it goes."

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He also hopes that his fine money will be put to good use by the authorities, "I have heard the government wants to save 1.5 billion euro on healthcare in Finland, so I hope that my money can fill a gap there."

Although he did comply with the traffic fine, he hopes that the authorities will practice perhaps putting a "cap" on the amount an offender is asked to pay.

For those unaware, in Finland, such penalties for traffic violations are calculated based on the offender's daily disposable income. The police in the country are allowed to check the individual's income by connecting directly to the country's central tax database.

When calculating, the daily disposable income is noted by dividing a person's daily net income by half. Similar systems of proportional fines after breaking the traffic rules are followed by other Nordic countries.

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When the fine was calculated in Wiklof's case, it racked up to be such an eyebrow-raising number (worth Rs 1 crore 67 lakh, approx.) not only because of his daily net worth but also due to his two pending cases of driving over the speed limit on the roads of Finland.

Back in 2013, he was handed over a 95,000 Euro (nearly Rs 84 lakh) fine and then subsequently a 64,000 euro (about Rs 56 lakh) fine five years later in 2018.

Seeing his record from the past, the millionaire was not only slapped with a hefty fine but his driving license has also been suspended for the next ten days.

Tell us your thoughts on the unusually high fine amount in the comments below.

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