It was a simple speeding violation, but Finnish businessman Anders Wiklof had to pay an eye-watering fine of €121,000 (S$175,000) for his folly – because he owns a company that makes €350 million a year.
In Finland and some other nations in the Nordic region, fines for traffic offences are calculated as a percentage of the offender’s income.
Mr Wiklof, chairman and founder of a holding company that bears his name, had claimed the speed limit changed “suddenly” from 70kmh to 50kmh when he was flashed at 82kmh.
“I had just started slowing down, but I guess that didn’t happen fast enough. It’s how it goes.” Mr Wiklof, 76, told Nya Aland, the main newspaper of the Aland Islands, an autonomous Finnish region in the Baltic Sea.
Police checked Mr Wiklof’s income using a central taxpayer database and quickly assessed that he owed about €121,000.
Under the Finnish system, a “day fine” is calculated based on the offender’s daily disposable income, generally considered to be half their daily net income. The more a driver is over the limit, the greater the number of day fines they receive.
In Mr Wiklof’s case, his fine was equivalent to half his disposable income over 14 days.
It did not help that this was not the first time he was flagged for driving over the limit.
He was fined €63,680 in 2018, five years after being hit with a €95,000 ticket for the same offence.
“I really regret the matter,” he said, but added that he hoped the money he paid would be used wisely.
“I have heard the government wants to save €1.5 billion on healthcare in Finland, so I hope that my money can fill a gap there,” he said.
Mr Wiklof is not the first of the ultra-wealthy in Finland who has had to pay a “day fine” equivalent to the lifetime income of some earners in the developing world.
In 2002, Mr Anssi Vanjoki, a top Nokia executive, was fined €116,000 after being caught doing 75kmh on his Harley-Davidson in a 50kmh zone.
Switzerland, which operates a similar income-based system, is believed to have imposed the highest ever traffic fine: about €1.1 million to a Swedish motorist caught driving at 290kmh between Berne and Lausanne.
