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Friday, 22.11.2024, 06:14
Final decision: Gild affair participants in Estonia are guilty
Piirsalu was convicted of investment fraud, others of aiding to fraud. Piirsalu's punishment that remained in force was two years of conditional imprisonment; for Haavel and Liiv, seven months of conditional imprisonment, with three years of probation for all.
Against Gild Financial Advisory Services (GFAS), the financial penalty of EUR 50,000 remained in force.
Initially, Harju county court had ruled that the defendants have to serve real prison sentences of 3-6 months but the District Court eased that punishment to conditional prison time that does not have to be served if the defendants don’t commit new crimes in the set time.
The Tallinn District Court that processed, alongside with the criminal case, the civil case of Baku affair investors, satisfied the civilian claim almost fully, which means that a giant penalty against the convicts remained in force. Piirsalu, Haavel, Liiv and GFAS have to compensate investors, according to the judgment, approximately 7 million euros.
Gild Financial Advisory Services held a bond issue with the volume of 16.5 mln euros in July 2007. The aim was to buy 147 hectares of lucrative land in Baku, Azerbaijan, build infrastructure and then sell the property. According to the indictment, the defendants presented false data at the bond issue and used the means gained with the issue for other purposes than planned. The investors who bought the bonds lost their money. The biggest investors of the project included well-known Estonian businessmen Marcel Vichmann and Hans H. Luik.