HELSINKI, Jan 3 (AFP) - Kaj-Erik Relander, former chief executive of Finnish national phone operator Sonera, was told on Monday he would be charged for illegally monitoring the phone calls of hundreds of people.
"Relander and the five others will be charged, and he can face up to a maximum of three years imprisonment for the crime," Markku Pohjanoksa, a Helsinki district prosecutor handling the case, told AFP.
The full extent of the charges will be announced in a month's time in Relander's formal arraignment at the Helsinki district court, and Monday's announcement was just a notification of this, Pohjanoksa added.
From 1998 to 2001 Relander ordered his security staff to monitor and probe the phone lists of Sonera employees, government officials and journalists, in a bid to source embarrassing, and accurate, press leaks from the company.
The probe, illegal under Finland's telecommunications secrecy laws, came to naught however, exposing instead Relander and his management for illegally monitoring the phone calls of their critics, including investigative reporters from Finland's leading daily Helsingin Sanomat.
Under Relander, Sonera almost went bankrupt after over-investing in 3G licenses in Europe and had to be bailed out by the Finnish government in 2001, before merging with Sweden's Telia in 2002 and becoming TeliaSonera.
Relander started working for Sonera in 1994 and became chief executive in 2001, but resigned in August the same year after the ill-advised investments and is now a partner with a London-based venture capital firm.
01/03/2005 12:58 GMT - AFP