Finnish bank director gets 15,000-euro speeding ticket

Link : http://uk.news.yahoo.com/041004/323/f3vmu.html

HELSINKI (AFP) - A senior executive at Finland's third largest bank Sampo was handed a fine of 14,624 euros (17,951 dollars) for speeding by the Helsinki appeals court, Finnish media reported.

The bank's deputy director Mika Ihamuotila was caught last year driving 111 kilometers per hour (69 miles per hour) in a 80-kilometer per hour (50-mile per hour) zone, according to Finnish news agency FNB.

In Finland fines are given according to one's salary and Ihamuotila was originally asked by a local court to pay 54,000 euros, corresponding to 16 days of his salary in 2001, when he received extraordinary income from share sales.

The Helsinki appeals court ruled on Monday however that the fine should be based on his income from 2002, the year prior to the offense, saving the speeding banker almost 40,000 euros.

Finland's largest traffic fine to date was paid in February by "sausage king" Jussi Salonoja, heir to a food processing empire, who had to pay 170,000 euros after driving at 80 kilometers per hour in a zone limited to half that speed.