Public transport|In July, the EU Court overturned the Commission’s recovery decision.
Helsinki the city government decided to return 44.3 million euros to the Koivisto Auto group, which the city had had to recover from it due to the decision of the European Commission.
The Court of Justice of the European Union ruled in July that the Commission’s old decision on the collection of financial support will be annulled.
The lengthy legal battle began in 2019, when the European Commission decided that the city of Helsinki was guilty of illegal state support when it gave its own bus company tens of millions of euros in capital support. The competitor Nobina had complained about it.
During the court proceedings, the company changed owners twice. First, Helsinki sold the business of its bus company to Koiviston Auto, and then the entire Koiviston Auto Group was sold to the investment company Capman Infra.
of the EU the general court ruled in 2022 that the new owner should specifically pay the recovery amount of 54 million euros, because it had received an undeserved advantage due to illegal capital support.
The city collected the subsidy under the supervision of the bus company’s commission. The amount to be collected had risen to 60 million euros with interest.
However, according to the decision made on Monday, the city will return 16 million euros less, or about 44 million euros. This is because four years ago, the primary object of the collection was Linja-autotoimini oy of the city of Helsinki, from whose funds part of the amount was paid.
The city had kept Linja-autotoimti oy as its desk box company, even though the bus company’s business had been sold.
Only secondarily was the amount recovered from Koivisto Auto. Koiviston Auto paid the city EUR 44.3 million with interest.
Koivisto Auto denied the interpretation of the legal process as an undeserved advantage, because at the time of the transaction, the business of Helsingin Bussilikkein was evaluated according to the market price. If the recovery of capital support from the buyer had been known, the value of the business would have been negative.
In its judgment handed down in July, the EU Court considers that the Commission had violated an essential procedural provision because it did not consult the new owner at any stage.
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