Finnish Businessman Fined €120,000 for Speeding

Helsinki. Renowned Finnish businessman Anders Wiklöf, 79, has been fined €120,000 for speeding. The founder of Wiklöf Holding AB, which generates over €350 million in annual revenue, was penalized for driving at 59 km/h in a 30 km/h zone.

He was caught by police while driving his sports car on the Åland Islands in the Baltic Sea. In Finland, exceeding the speed limit by 20 km/h is considered a serious offense. 

Traffic fines in Finland are determined based on the driver's income and assets. This unique legal provision, which requires wealthier individuals to pay higher penalties for traffic violations, resulted in the substantial fine for Wiklöf.

Wiklöf has quietly accepted the penalty. Speaking to the Finnish newspaper Nya Åland, he admitted his mistake and stated he had nothing further to add. He expressed relief that his driver's license was not suspended, as that would have been the consequence had he exceeded the speed limit by more than 30 km/h.

This is not the first costly mistake for Wiklöf. He made headlines in 2023 for paying a similarly large fine. Over the past 13 years, he has paid nearly €400,000 in traffic fines alone.

However, the record for the world's most expensive traffic fine belongs to someone else. In 2010, a Swedish driver in Switzerland was fined nearly $1 million for driving at 290 km/h in a 120 km/h zone. In that case, too, the fine was calculated based on the driver's income and total assets.