Risto Niva was charged with serious financial crimes.
The former chairman of RoPS, Risto Niva, received a sentence from the District Court of Lapland. Jussi Eskola
The District Court of Lapland has sentenced the former chairman and CEO of Rovaniemi Palloseura Risto Nivan four months suspended prison term for embezzlement.
Niva was obliged to compensate the Rovaniemi Palloseura ry for the damage caused by the crime, 8,740 euros, including default interest. Niva is also obliged to pay the state a crime victim fee of 80 euros.
The regional prosecutor of Northern Finland initially demanded a suspended prison sentence of one year and eight months for Niva for aggravated embezzlement and payment instrument fraud. Niva denied both charges.
According to the prosecutor’s demand for punishment, Niva embezzled the funds of Rovaniemi Palloseura ry (later Palloseura) and Blue Idea Oy (later the Company) totaling at least 160,290 euros.
According to the prosecutor, Niva unlawfully raised wages from December 2019 until November 2022, a total of 151,290 euros gross.
Niva was hired for the position of the club’s managing director/executive director for a period of 22.5.–30.11.2019. At the end of 2019, the management team of the association stated that there is no possibility for Palloseura to hire a new CEO.
In the district court’s opinion, Niva’s employment relationship continued as valid for the time being under the Employment Contracts Act. According to the district court, it was not shown in the case that Niva had embezzled Palloseura and the company’s funds to the extent that he was paid a salary of 151,290 euros in total.
On the other hand, in the district court’s opinion, it has been undisputed in the case that in the summer of 2022 (July 25) Niva paid back the loan she gave herself to Palloseura by 4,000 euros more than she had borrowed herself. According to the district court, Niva acted deliberately, because she must have known that the repayment was unjustified for the 4,000 euros.
According to the district court, Niva acted fraudulently when he transferred 4,740 euros from Palloseura’s bank account to himself on 17 August 2022 without a receipt or expense invoices.
In addition to this, Niva unlawfully withdrew 300 euros in cash for her own use with Palloseura’s card.
– The total amount of embezzled funds has been 9,040 euros, so the object of embezzlement has not been a large amount of funds. Considering the amount of embezzled funds, the act has also not caused particularly noticeable damage to the Palloseura, even though the club’s financial situation has been weak and operations have been loss-making. Although Niva has taken advantage of her particularly responsible position as a person authorized to use Palloseura’s bank accounts when committing the act, the embezzlement as a whole should not be considered gross considering the amount of funds embezzled, the number of times the act was committed, and the short duration of the act. Niva is thus guilty of embezzlement, the district court’s decision states.
The prosecutor also demanded that Niva be punished for payment instrument fraud, because when Niva illegally transferred Palloseura’s funds to herself, she had exceeded her right to use online banking credentials and a bank card. The district court considered that Niva’s procedure will be sufficiently assessed in terms of criminal law based on the embezzlement characteristics, when the online banking credentials and bank card used in the act have been in his use with permission.
For this reason, the district court rejected the payment instrument fraud charge.