Avo Viiol (sometimes also spelled as Aavo Viiol; born 5 August 1958) is a former head of and a famous

Estonian Estonian may refer to: * Something of, from, or related to Estonia, a country in the Baltic region in northern Europe * Estonians, people from Estonia, or of Estonian descent * Estonian language * Estonian cuisine * Estonian culture See also

...

embezzler Embezzlement (from Anglo-Norman, from Old French ''besillier'' ("to torment, etc."), of unknown origin) is a type of financial crime, usually involving theft of money from a business or employer. It often involves a trusted individual taking ...

. Between December 1999 and August 2002, Viiol, then working as head of the Estonian Culture Fund, embezzled the Fund of 8,510,910 EEK, sometimes by forging expense documents, and caused 17,868 EEK of damages through unnecessary cash advance fees. On 14 August 2002,

Estonian Internal Security Service The Estonian Internal Security Service (, officially , KAPO for short) is a central national security institution of Republic of Estonia. Its purposes are centered on enforcing constitutional order. The Estonian Internal Security Service has p ...

arrested Viiol after the Estonian Ministry of Culture had detected suspicious activity regarding management of the Fund's assets. On 7 January 2003, the Tallinn City Court convicted Viiol of official

forgery Forgery is a white-collar crime that generally consists of the false making or material alteration of a legal instrument with the specific mens rea, intent to wikt:defraud#English, defraud. Tampering with a certain legal instrument may be fo ...

and grand

embezzlement Embezzlement (from Anglo-Norman, from Old French ''besillier'' ("to torment, etc."), of unknown origin) is a type of financial crime, usually involving theft of money from a business or employer. It often involves a trusted individual taking ...

using the ''simple trial procedure'' (). Viiol was sentenced to two years and eight months of

imprisonment Imprisonment or incarceration is the restraint of a person's liberty for any cause whatsoever, whether by authority of the government, or by a person acting without such authority. In the latter case it is considered " false imprisonment". Impri ...

, then released prematurely in February 2004.

Use of embezzled funds

According to Viiol, he lost most of the embezzled funds through playing in

casino A casino is a facility for gambling. Casinos are often built near or combined with hotels, resorts, restaurants, retail shops, cruise ships, and other tourist attractions. Some casinos also host live entertainment, such as stand-up comedy, conce ...

s, being a

compulsive gambler Problem gambling, ludopathy, or ludomania is repetitive gambling behavior despite harm and negative consequences. Problem gambling may be diagnosed as a mental disorder according to DSM-5 if certain diagnostic criteria are met. Pathological ga ...

. Ironically, a significant share of the Fund's resources comes from the gambling tax.

Political ramifications

Viiol's conviction led to resignation of

Signe Kivi Signe Kivi (born 24 February 1957 in Tallinn) is an Estonian textile artist and politician. She has been a member of the IX, X and XIV Riigikogu. From 1999 to 2002 she was the Minister of Culture. In 1980 she graduated from the Estonian Academ ...

, then Estonian Minister of Culture.

Repayment

Viiol has made repeated promises to repay his embezzled funds and has refused to apply for

personal bankruptcy Personal bankruptcy law allows, in certain jurisdictions, an individual to be declared bankrupt. Virtually every country with a modern legal system features some form of debt relief for individuals. Personal bankruptcy is distinguished from corpora ...

. However, lacking major sources of income, it is unlikely that he will repay a significant part of them, and the Estonian Culture Fund has classified its claims against Viiol as ''unlikely''. During the five years since his release, Viiol has repaid a total of EEK 23,382; assuming the same average payment rate, the debt would take about 1,820 years, or until 3824, to repay.

Neologism

In the public discussion over Viiol's exploits, the neologism ''viioldama'', a

verb A verb is a word that generally conveys an action (''bring'', ''read'', ''walk'', ''run'', ''learn''), an occurrence (''happen'', ''become''), or a state of being (''be'', ''exist'', ''stand''). In the usual description of English, the basic f ...

form of Viiol's name, has become a noted

slang A slang is a vocabulary (words, phrases, and linguistic usages) of an informal register, common in everyday conversation but avoided in formal writing and speech. It also often refers to the language exclusively used by the members of pa ...

word for embezzlement.Estonian Slang Dictionary maintained by Estonian Language Institute
entry #37 ''to steal''
/ref> The word is similar to ''viiuldama'', which means ''to play a

violin The violin, sometimes referred to as a fiddle, is a wooden chordophone, and is the smallest, and thus highest-pitched instrument (soprano) in regular use in the violin family. Smaller violin-type instruments exist, including the violino picc ...

''.

Sources

Postimees is an Estonian daily newspaper established on 5 June 1857, by Johann Voldemar Jannsen. In 1891, it became the first daily newspaper in Estonia. Its current editor-in-chief is Priit Hõbemägi. The paper has approximately 250 employees. ''P ...

20 January 2004
Hasartmängur Avo Viiol pääseb vanglast kümne päeva pärast
*

Baltic Times ''The Baltic Times'' is an independent monthly newspaper that covers the latest political, economic, business, and cultural events in Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania. History The paper was formed from a merger in 1996 of the ''Baltic Independent ...

1 November 2004
Diary of a notorious gambling fiend
by Andrei Tuch *

SL Õhtuleht SL may refer to: Arts and entertainment * SL (rapper), a rapper from London * ''Second Life'', a multi-user 3D virtual world * Sensei's Library, an Internet site dedicated to the game of Go * Subdominant leittonwechselklänge * Leica SL, a mirro ...

23 October 2007
Riisumine viis vanglasse
*

23 October 2007
Avo Viioli hiigelvõla tagasimaksed kultuurkapitalile kuivavad kokku
*

Õhtuleht ''Õhtuleht'' (''Evening Paper'') is the largest daily newspaper in Estonia. It is a tabloid newspaper. The newspaper is published in Tallinn in Estonian. History and profile ''Õhtuleht'' was established in 1944. On 3 July 2000 two rival tabl ...

2 December 2008
Avo Viiol pole tänavu tagasi maksnud sentigi
*

Eesti Ekspress ''Eesti Ekspress'' (''Estonian Express'') is an Estonian weekly newspaper. Founded in 1989, ''Eesti Ekspress'' was the first politically independent newspaper in the Estonian Soviet Socialist Republic during the Soviet control of Estonia. Th ...

25 March 2009
KOLM MEEST, kes miljonikahju kunagi ei hüvita: Simm, Tinn ja Viiol
by Askur Alas

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Viiol, Avo Estonian criminals 1958 births Living people People convicted of embezzlement People convicted of forgery