School principal sent to jail for fund embezzlement

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 in scholarship funds over a ten-year period, reported a Finnish language daily Helsingin Sanomat.

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.