MOSCOW, October 28 (RIA Novosti) — Two senior police officers and a civil servant are to be charged in a case where Russian President Vladimir Putin's name appeared on a Finnish criminal register, prosecutors said Tuesday.
"During the consideration of charges we've come to the conclusion that over the years this register has been allowed to take on a life of its own without any checks on the information," Deputy Prosecutor General Jorma Kalske is cited as saying by the Finnish Yle broadcaster.
According to Kaske, the prosecution has "determined that there have been entries about individuals and things that do not belong there. In other words, they've had highly tenuous links to organized criminal groups".
The prosecution has reasons to suspect lack of training, guidelines and supervision in the use of the criminal register, Yle said. Police was initially investigating seven suspects in connection with the case, though charges against four of them have been waived.
According to the broadcaster, investigators are also working on establishing how the information about Putin's name being on the criminal register was leaked.
In April, MTV reported that Putin's name had been put on a Finnish criminal register due to his contact with Russian biker club Night Wolves. Finnish authorities and law enforcement officials issued their apologies to the Russian president, and his name was hastily removed from the list.
According to Putin's spokesperson Dmitry Peskov, the Russian leader reacted to the situation with irony. The blacklisting did not require any official Russian response, as the Finnish side had discovered the mistake and apologized, Peskov then said.
