9.  The applicant was born in 1949 and lives in Lapua. 10.  The applicant was a managing director in company X until it went into liquidation, on 8 May 1990, before the District Court (kihlakunnanoikeus, häradsrätt) of Isokyrö. The creditor withdrew the application later and the liquidation proceedings were terminated on 28 May 1990, only to be restarted on 15 August 1990. 11.  In December 1990 the police started interrogating the applicant relating to the business activities and accounts of X. In 1991 the Central Criminal Police (keskusrikospoliisi, centralkriminalpolisen) conducted several searches of the applicant’s and X’s premises in Seinäjoki, Isokyrö and Nurmo. The police reports, resulting from the investigations, were dated 30 May 1991, 26 April 1993 and 7 July 1993. In respect of the third report the police carried out a further investigation which was terminated on 25 July 1994. The applicant was not taken into police custody during the criminal investigations or the subsequent criminal proceedings against him. 12.  On 15 June 1994 the applicant was charged on eleven counts with offences, including, inter alia, aggravated tax fraud. The District Court held oral hearings on 7 September 1994, 8 December 1994, 22 February 1995, 20 April 1995 and 31 August 1995. The hearing was each time adjourned on the Prosecutor’s request. On 31 August 1995, the District Court convicted the applicant as charged and sentenced him to two years’ imprisonment. Two other persons were also accused and convicted of one offence each. 13.  All the accused appealed to the Court of Appeal (hovioikeus, hovrätt) of Vaasa which, by a decision of 25 January 1996, referred the case back to the District Court for reconsideration, on the grounds that the District Court’s judgment had been inadequately reasoned. 14.  The case was reconsidered by the District Court (käräjäoikeus, tingsrätt) of Kyrönmaa, which had replaced the District Court of Isokyrö. On 14 November 1996, the District Court convicted the applicant on ten counts and sentenced him to one year and ten months’ imprisonment. 15.  In addition to the applicant, the prosecutor and the Tax Administration of Western Finland (Länsi-Suomen verovirasto, Västra Finlands skatteverk), which was also a party to the proceedings, appealed to the Court of Appeal. On 2 February 1998 the Court of Appeal granted the applicant a partly cost-free trial as from 1 June 1996 onwards.
On 11 February 1998 the Court of Appeal acquitted the applicant of one of the charges and rejected the rest of the applicant’s appeal, upholding the prison sentence. The applicant was also obliged to pay the State of Finland a total of 3,460,000 Finnish Marks (equivalent to approximately EUR 582,000) with interest in compensation for unpaid taxes. 16.  On 24 April 1998, the Supreme Court (korkein oikeus, högsta domstolen) refused the applicant leave to appeal. 17.  The applicant twice requested the reopening of the proceedings before the Supreme Court. The Supreme Court rejected the applicant’s requests on 25 August and 24 November 1998, respectively. 18.  On 21 September 1998, the applicant complained to the Chancellor of Justice (oikeuskansleri, justitiekansler) about the delay in the proceedings, amongst other things. The Deputy Chancellor of Justice found, in his decision of 30 October 2000, that the length of the proceedings could not be regarded as excessive, taking into account the fact that the criminal investigation lasted about two years and a half, the prosecutor’s decision whether to prosecute or not took about a year, the District Court’s first judgment was issued in about one year, the Court of Appeal’s decision to refer the case back to the District Court was made in a few months, the District Court’s second judgment was issued in less than ten months, the Court of Appeal re-examined the District Court’s judgment in about a year and three months, and the Supreme Court refused the applicant leave to appeal in about two months. Thus, the court proceedings, including five different court decisions, lasted less than four years all together. Even though the proceedings were lengthy, it had to be noted that the case was complex and that it had proceeded at all times without any unnecessary delay at any stage. He emphasised that it was in the interests of the applicant that the criminal investigation was also carried out in a profound and appropriate manner. As the applicant’s application was still pending before the Strasbourg Court, the Deputy Chancellor of Justice found it unnecessary to take any measures in the case.