Lighter Sentences in Immigration Bribery Case
Image: YLE
About a year and a half ago a departmental secretary at the Directorate of Immigration was convicted of accepting bribes from foreigners hoping for speedier processing of their residence permit applications.
The Helsinki District Court handed her a nine month suspended sentence and ordered her dismissed from her post. Her suspended term has now been lowered to seven months.
Charges against two immigrant men were dismissed.
In the years 2000 to 2003, the official received payments from immigrants, mostly Turks, who were seeking faster handling of applications. The court determined that she had received nearly 11,800 euros in bribes.
Originally 18 were charged with bribery, but most of the charges were dropped by the district court.