Series index:

1. EPO Exposé: The Besieged Baltic States – Part I – More Captured Delegates?
2. EPO Exposé: The Besieged Baltic States – Part II – Old Wine in New Bottles...
3. EPO Exposé: The Besieged Baltic States – Part III – Introducing the Finnish “Facilitator”
4. EPO Exposé: The Besieged Baltic States – Part IV – Martti Enäjärvi and His “Good Brother” Networks
5. You are here ☞ A Man With a Conviction...

Martti Enäjärvi in Helsinki District Court in October 2011 on charges of credit card fraud.

Summary: Corrupt EPO delegate, an enabler of Benoît Battistelli and associate of António Campinos, in his moments of public shame (and a belated slap on the wrist)

As we saw in the last part, Martti Enäjärvi had a close shave with the Finnish public prosecutor during the early 2000s when he was facing allegations of abuse of office and breach of duty due to suspected misuse of an official car and official funds.

"By the close of the decade Enäjärvi's fondness for high living at the expense of the tax-payer finally caught up with him."Not for the first time, he managed to wriggle off the hook and the Finnish tax-payers were left to pick up the tab for his extravagances.

But this wasn't the end of the story. By the close of the decade Enäjärvi's fondness for high living at the expense of the tax-payer finally caught up with him.

At the beginning of May 2010, the report of an official government audit of the PRH was published. [PDF]

The audit report noted certain irregularities in the use of an official credit card and the PRH was instructed to take corrective action.

"At that point in time, Enäjärvi was 68 so there was no difficulty in massaging the PR to make it look like a normal retirement."By mid-August 2010, Finnish media was reporting that a new director of the PRH had been appointed and that "The current Director General of the Office, Martti Enäjärvi, will retire".

At that point in time, Enäjärvi was 68 so there was no difficulty in massaging the PR to make it look like a normal retirement.

The real story behind Enäjärvi's "retirement" only started to emerge the following year when reports appeared in the Finnish press in March 2011 stating that the former Director-General of the PRH was under suspicion of financial fraud. [PDF]

"The total amount involved was reported to be of the order of € 50,000."Some months later on 26 October 2011, Enäjärvi appeared in the dock at the District Court of Helsinki [PDF] facing charges of repeated misuse of his official credit card over a period of five years between 2005 and 2010. The total amount involved was reported to be of the order of € 50,000.

It was also reported in the Finnish media, that the preliminary investigation showed that many of the cash withdrawals [PDF] had been from ATMs on Kaisaniemenkatu and Mikonkatu, which are streets in the vicinity of the Helsinki Grand Casino.

Many of Enäjärvi's cash withdrawals took place in close proximity to the Helsinki Grand Casino.

The authorising officer at the PRH, Eero Mantere, was also put on trial alongside Enäjärvi under suspicion of having aided and abetted the Director-General in his irregular use of the credit card.

However, Mantere told the court that since 2006 he had been trying unsuccessfully to limit Enäjärvi's cash withdrawals. He said that he had issued repeated warnings to Enäjärvi and even lowered his weekly spending limit to € 500 following the abuses.

Enäjärvi's reaction was to override Mantere's intervention and restore the spending limit to €€ 3,000.

Eero Mantere was charged as a suspected accomplice of Enäjärvi, but he was ultimately acquitted by the court.

Enäjärvi tried to justify his insatiable thirst for cash on the grounds that he frequently had to travel abroad and thus needed to carry cash for unexpected expenses.

In his statements to the court he explained that there were many trips, more than twenty a year, which were mainly to European countries, in connection with WIPO, EUIPO and EPO matters.

According to the court, there was no reason to carry cash for such trips:

"Given the long experience of Mr Enäjärvi's official career, it is not plausible that he could have inadvertently overestimated the costs and charges incurred each year by a wide margin."

On 2 December 2011, the court handed down its judgment in the case: Enäjärvi was convicted [PDF] and Mantere was acquitted. [PDF]

All in all, Enäjärvi got off relatively lightly because he escaped with a fine of €€ 8,000 (described in the local newspaper reports as a "heavy fine" [PDF]).

The sentence was upheld [PDF] by the appeal court a year later in December 2012.

"And so it was that Martti Enäjärvi's long career at the top of the Finnish PRH ended with the ignominy of a conviction as a credit-card fraudster."In March 2013, it was reported that Enjärävi had been denied leave to appeal to the Supreme Court. [PDF]

And so it was that Martti Enäjärvi's long career at the top of the Finnish PRH ended with the ignominy of a conviction as a credit-card fraudster.

Enäjärvi's departure from the PRH in August 2010 came shortly after Battistelli's inauguration as President of EPO on 1 July of the same year.

Enäjärvi didn't manage to stick around on the EPO's Administrative Council for long enough to be able to participate in the success of his "good brother" from the French INPI.

"...Enäjärvi appears to have acted as the "facilitator" that helped to open doors for Battistelli in the Baltic region."However, the available information suggests that he played a significant behind-the scenes role in Battistelli's election to the top position at the EPO in 2009/2010.

More specifically, Enäjärvi appears to have acted as the "facilitator" that helped to open doors for Battistelli in the Baltic region.

We will examine this little-known chapter of EPO history in more detail in the upcoming parts. ⬆