‘s MOT department has previously investigated a consulting company founded by a man convicted of aggravated forgery, which promises to arrange residence permits for immigrants in Finland.
The District Court of South Karelia has sentenced a Finnish man to a seven-month suspended prison sentence for aggravated forgery. According to the verdict, the man was planning to illegally bring Yemeni citizens living in Russia to the country.
In the preliminary investigation file, the man is described as having been part of an organized crime group that planned to start importing foreign persons illegally with the help of fake visas. The plans were revealed when four fake Schengen visas were found in the possession of a Finnish man in May 2021. They were probably obtained from an organized crime group in Russia.
The man was coming back to Finland from Russia via the Nuijamaa border crossing. The Russian authorities had warned the Finnish border guard in advance about the man’s activities and said that the man probably had ten Yemeni passports with fake visas in his possession. The purpose of the visas was to bring citizens of Yemen to Finland.
‘s MOT editorial office does not publish the name of the convicted person, as he is not a significant public authority or public figure.
In court, the man denied having committed the crimes. He considered that he acted legally and was unaware that he was in possession of forged documents. In court, the man accused a Russian man who acted as his partner, who, according to his assessment, works or cooperates with the Russian security service FSB. The Russian man was suspected of a crime in the preliminary investigation, but no charges were brought against him.
The judgment is not legally binding and can be appealed to the Court of Appeal.
Connection to the consulting office examined by the MOT
The man convicted of gross forgery is a Finnish citizen, but Estonian by birth. In 2014, he was founding a consulting company called Fintegra Consulting Group Oy. Its business idea is to help foreigners move to Finland and establish companies. On its website, Fintegra says that it has helped hundreds of foreigners move to Finland.
MOT reported in January 2023 that Fintegra had made questionable promises to its customers. According to Fintegra, the problems highlighted by MOT are primarily due to Finland’s strict immigration policy. In January 2023, the company denied that it had cheated its customers or that it had made unsupported promises to them.
The man who received the verdict in the South Karelia District Court was Fintegra’s second owner and employee in 2014–2018.
In the same case, four Yemeni and one Russian citizen were also suspected of the crime. The consulting firm Fintegra had helped at least two of them get a residence permit in Finland. One of the Yemeni men said in the preliminary investigation that he paid Fintegra 7,000 euros to obtain a residence permit.
The Russian man said again that he had paid 20,000 euros to Fintegra, but had not received a residence permit.
Fintegra’s current owner or employees were not indicted or under criminal investigation.
In the end, the charge in the case was brought only against the Finnish man. In the case of the others, a decision not to charge was made regarding the organization of illegal entry into the country. The charges were dropped, among other things, because the illegal entry was not arranged when the authorities suspended the operation.
The mysterious “uncle” promised to organize customers
During the preliminary investigation, the Border Guard clarified the course of events by, among other things, going through WhatsApp and text messages between the suspects of the crime. They referred quite directly to forged documents and their acquisition.
“An etched visa costs 4-5 thousand, you can use this money to make a visa. Maybe they will print there with a printer and sell for 50 dollars, who knows,” the Russian man who was indicted wrote in one of his messages.
According to the preliminary investigation material, the group had sold its service for a price of 2,000–5,000 euros.
The messages between the suspects repeatedly referred to an “uncle” who has promised to organize customers coming to Europe.
One of the interrogated said that the “uncle” was a Yemeni general living in Egypt. According to another interviewee, “3,000 people are waiting to come to Europe” with the help of the group’s contacts.
“Everyone from the JR group [järjestäytyneen rikollisryhmän] customers would have been around 200 people staying in Russia and several hundred e.g. A Yemeni resident in Saudi Arabia. — These customers could be made into groups of 30–50 people, which are sent three to five times a month to Europe,” the preliminary investigation stated.
According to the preliminary investigation, the customers would have mainly been Yemenis, Iranians, Pakistanis and Syrians. In addition to Finland, efforts would also be made to obtain residence permits for them in Spain and Poland, among others.