The Court of Appeal amended the District Court’s decision on environmental infraction: Lemminkäinen to pay eur 3.4 million

LEMMINKÄINEN CORPORATION      INVESTOR NEWS      11 APRIL 2017 AT 2:00 P.M.

THE COURT OF APPEAL AMENDED THE DISTRICT COURT’S DECISION ON ENVIRONMENTAL INFRACTION: LEMMINKÄINEN TO PAY EUR 3.4 MILLION

On 11 April 2017, the Helsinki Court of Appeal gave its decision concerning environmental infraction charges.

The Court of Appeal amended the District Court of Tuusula’s liberating decision from June 2015 regarding environmental infraction charges against Lemminkäinen and two of its employees. The decision is related to the quotas for the amount of recycled asphalt used in asphalt mass production, as defined in the environmental permits of the company’s Sammonmäki asphalt plant in Finland. The prosecutor demanded a confiscation of illegal profit of EUR 3.4 million and a corporate fine of at least EUR 120,000 from Lemminkäinen.

As the District Court, the Court of Appeal has viewed that the use of recycled asphalt in asphalt production does not spoil the environment. However, the defendants who were responsible for operating the Sammonmäki asphalt plant had neglected the compliance with the environmental permit as the asphalt plant had used more recycled asphalt than allowed in the environmental permit. Therefore, the two Lemminkäinen employees were sentenced to fines for breaching the environmental protection law.    

In addition, Lemminkäinen has been sentenced to a confiscation of illegal profit of EUR 3.4 million, which, according to the Court of Appeal, the company has saved in its production costs by exceeding its recycled asphalt quotas. Lemminkäinen will record the expense in its first quarter result. The claim related to the corporate fine was rejected.

Lemminkäinen has as such deemed the claim without foundation. Lemminkäinen will now carefully study the decision of the Court of Appeal. After this, the company will decide whether there are grounds for requesting leave to appeal from the Supreme Court.

Lemminkäinen announced the decision of the District Court of Tuusula on 11 June 2015.

LEMMINKÄINEN CORPORATION
Corporate Communications

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Lemminkäinen is an expert in complex infrastructure construction and building construction in Northern Europe and one of the largest paving companies in its market. Together with our customers and 4,700 professionals we employ, we build a sustainable society. In 2016, our net sales were EUR 1.7 billion. Lemminkäinen Corporation’s share is quoted on Nasdaq Helsinki Ltd. www.lemminkainen.com