Helsinki, March 3, 2026
Photo: yle.fi
A court in North Karelia has sentenced retired Archbishop Leo of the Finnish Orthodox Church (Patriarchate of Constantinople) to one year and one month of suspended imprisonment for grant fraud and violations of accounting rules under aggravating circumstances.
The conviction stems from financial irregularities at the Karelian Language Society, of which Abp. Leo served as longtime board chairman. The society’s former secretary received an identical suspended sentence.
Prosecutors had sought a stiffer penalty: one and a half years suspended plus community service for the former Archbishop, and one year and ten months suspended plus community service for the secretary.
The two were jointly ordered to repay more than 160,000 euros ($187,380) to the Ministry of Education for grant-related damages, with Abp. Leo additionally required to pay over 9,000 euros ($10,540) in personal compensation to the Ministry. Legal costs exceeding 30,000 ($35,135) euros were also assigned to the defendants.
The Karelian Language Society was founded in Joensuu in 1995 to promote the Karelian language and culture. It went bankrupt in 2020 after the state suspended its grant funding amid suspicions of misuse of funds. The Ministry of Education and Culture subsequently conducted a special audit of the organization’s finances and sought to recover subsidies paid out between 2017 and 2019. The original recovery sum of 325,000 euros ($380,615) grew over time due to interest accrued on late payments.
The Finnish Orthodox Church’s website notes that the ecclesiastical authorities will inform the Patriarchate of Constantinople of Abp. Leo’s conviction.
The verdict has not yet entered into legal force and may be appealed to a court of appeals.
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