A Metso employee in Russia has apparently stolen money off invoices and run the money through various bank accounts and other firms, finally reaching an offshore company that he had in Panama.
According to Yle.fi, Metso and the man have since parted ways. The information was revealed as Yle has continued their coverage on the Finnish individuals and companies that have been previously mentioned in the Panama Papers data leak.
The tax haven, Panama, permitted the Russian sales manager working for the automation division of power and process company, to pass the money from the offshore company he owned to Metso and then back to the company in Panama.
Thus, the former employee of Metso used a Swiss bank account to pay an invoice to Metso Automation in Finland. The documents from the bank showed that the invoice represented a payment for valves and commissions, and that the valves were then sold to another company in Russia.
As Yle mentioned, When Metso Automation received the money the Russian company, it then sold the valves forward to a Swedish company headed up by another Russian man. As the deal progressed through the various stages, the price of the valves increased by nearly six-fold. The Metso employee then skimmed the excess money off the deal and directed it to his company account in Panama. The documents indicated that the employee had engaged in similar transactions on several occasions.
An audit from Metso Automation didn’t reveal anything out of the ordinary about the valves deals and didn’t step in on the matter. The company, which owns a 15% stake in Finland, started their own investigation already.
"We take this case very seriously. In principle payments from us to so-called tax havens are stopped and checked to see what they’re about," said Metso chief financial officer Harri Nikunen.
As the CFO added, the bank is the one that has to review the payments and that the company isn’t responsible to analyze the payments coming from countries like Panama, known to be tax havens. Also, Metso reports stated that their internal investigation didn’t reveal any signs of irregularities coming from their side.
Considering the accusations, Metso also released a press release denying any involvement in this case.
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