HS Turku | The Russian millionaire appeared before the court in Turku – The prosecutor demands imprisonment for the main owner of Airiston Helme

Russian millionaire Pavel Melnikov has arrived at the District Court of Varsinais-Suomen in Turku. Melnikov is the main accused in Airiston Helme's economic crime case, which continues today.

Melnikov is accused of aggravated tax fraud, aggravated accounting crime and aggravated employment pension insurance payment fraud.

According to the prosecutor, Melnikov has led an organized criminal group, and the Airiston helmi company was established as a cover for criminal activity and to enable real estate acquisitions in Finland.

The prosecutor demands a five-year prison sentence for Melnikov.

Melnikov has denied all charges and his membership in a criminal group.

Other people are also accused in the trial. They too have denied the charges.

Before the main hearing that began in December, the prosecutors' view was that Melnikov would be required to be imprisoned if he appeared in court. Melnikov would therefore have been imprisoned at least for the duration of the trial. However, the prosecutors waived this demand.

Melnikov's lawyer Kai Kotiranta said in December that this opened the door for Melnikov to appear in court on the spot.

Russian owned Airiston's pearl company became public when the authorities did the attention-grabbing home search In the archipelago of the Turku region and on the mainland in 2018.

The President and Prime Minister of the Republic had been informed about the operation in advance. About 400 authorities from the Central Criminal Police, the Border Guard Service, the Defense Forces and the Protection Police participated in the home search operation.

Melnikov was the main owner of Airisto pearl before the company ceased operations in Finland and was put into liquidation in 2019.

At the time of the 2018 home search, Airiston Helme and Melnikov had several properties and entire islands in the Turku archipelago near an important deep channel. Among other things, the islands had sturdy piers, helipads and numerous surveillance cameras.

HS interviewed Melnikov in Latvia in 2019. He was asked why he has bought the islands from Airisto. Melnikov said he was collecting islands. He said that he fell in love with the Turku archipelago during his sailing trips.

In the picture in the foreground, one of the three helicopter landing spots on the Säkkisaari and Nevamo island pair. The picture is from 2018. Picture: Kalle Koponen / HS

Prosecutor according to Melnikov and some other people, together as members of an organized criminal group and as part of its activities, they gave various false information to the taxman on behalf of Airisto's pearl. According to the prosecutor, the act has caused or attempted to cause damage to the taxman of several million euros.

According to the prosecutor, Airisto's pearl has paid hidden wages and other benefits to employees with cash. In addition, according to the prosecutor, the recording of business transactions has been neglected and false and misleading information has been entered in the accounting.

Read more about the charges here: Prosecutor: The Russian millionaire of the pearl of Airisto led an organized criminal group, the millionaire denies the charges

According to the prosecutor, the organization led by Melnikov has tried to hide the actual nature of its existence and operations. The organization is said to have used covert language, strict information security regulations and travel instructions, among other things.

According to the prosecutor, a background noise device related to the organization's activities, i.e. a jammer, which is a device designed to prevent eavesdropping or similar activities, has been confiscated from Melnikov's apartment. According to the prosecutor, professional-level equipment for wall-penetrating listening, which corresponds to the surveillance equipment used by the authorities, was also confiscated from the apartment.

According to the prosecutor, the memory sticks used by the organization have encryption, which is used by countries' governments and security experts to protect secret information.

In addition, the prosecutor says that the organization has had regulations regarding travel, according to which members are not allowed to contact each other at airports and on airplanes they must sit apart from each other.