Off the wire
• UNDP recognizes Ethiopia's human development gains  • Xinhua world news summary at 1530 GMT, April 13  • Merkel critical of German anti-terror shortcomings  • Taiwan reports first Zika virus case in 2017  • Cyprus stops people from travelling to Syria to join IS, says official  • S. Africa to take urgent steps to avoid further downgrade: finance minister  • Spotlight: S.Korean presidential candidates have heated discussions on 1st TV debate  • China applies electric propulsion technology to newly launched satellite  • China, Egypt seeks to promote Belt and Road Initiative  • Foreign exchange rate of euro to other currencies  
You are here: 　 Home

High school principal sent to prison for embezzlement of scholarship funds

Xinhua, April 13, 2017 Adjust font size:

A high school principal in Oulu, northern Finland, was sentenced to three years in prison on Thursday for embezzling a total of 445,000 euros (473,043 U.S. dollars) in scholarship funds over a ten-year period, Finnish daily Helsingin Sanomat reported.

The Oulu District Court found 54-year-old Juha Martti Valtakorpi guilty of aggravated embezzlement and aggravated abuse of an official position.

In addition to his prison sentence, the court also ordered Valtakorpi to resign from his job.

The crime took place between 2004 and 2014, during which time the defendant made cash withdrawals and account transfers from the accounts of scholarship funds owned by the city of Oulu.

He reportedly took some 150,000 euros for his own use. In addition, he also transferred money to some teachers in the school and used 12,500 euros of the funds to purchase a grand piano and a golf share for the school.

The court found Valtakorpi guilty of embezzlement of public funds and dereliction of duty, as the funds were only to be used as scholarships for former and current high school students. Endit