One of Finland’s Richest Men Was Slapped With a Nearly $130,000 Speeding Ticket

Justin Ray
·2 min read
43

One of Finland’s richest men seems to have a need for speed—and he’s certainly paying the price.

Multimillionaire Andres Wiklöf was driving in the country’s Åland Islands heading toward the area’s capital, Mariehamn, when police caught him driving approximately 50 mph in a 30 mph zone, ABC News reports. That swift move resulted in the businessman receiving a 10-day license suspension and a whopping $129,000 fine (€121,000).

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Wiklöf told local media that he knew he was driving over the speed limit, which changed “suddenly,” according to ABC News. He tried to slow down, but he wasn’t able to quickly enough. “I really regret the matter,” he told Åland Island’s main newspaper, Nya Åland.

And the larger your wealth, the higher the fine—at least, that’s how it works in Finland. The country’s “Day-Fine” system determines the penalty size a person is issued by law enforcement largely based on the individual’s income. The country was the first Nordic nation to implement the income-based system back in 1921, and several European nations have done the same.

This isn’t Wiklöf’s first lofty offense, either: He garnered a $101,677 (€95,000) fine in 2013 and a $67,427 (€63,000) penalty in 2018, meaning he has dropped nearly $300,000 on speeding tickets in the past decade, according to ABC News. “I have heard that they are going to save one and a half billion on health care in Finland, so I hope that the money can fill a gap there,” the businessman told Nya Åland.

Wiklöf is among Finland’s wealthiest men, ABC News reports. With an estimated net worth of over $10 million, he currently serves as the chairman of Wiklöf Holding, a business empire that includes in trade, real estate, and logistics companies.

Yet Wiklöf’s fine pales in comparison to one of the heftiest fine issued by a country under a Day-Fine system. A Swedish motorist captured driving 170 kilometers per hour (105 mph) over the speed limit was issued a total fine of $1,091,340 (3,600 Swiss franks per day for 300 days), according to ABC News.

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