Avo Viiol

Avo Viiol (born 1958), sometimes also spelled as Aavo Viiol, is a former head of Estonian Culture Fund and a famous Estonian embezzler.

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 Defence Police 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 and grand embezzlement using the simple trial procedure (Estonian: lihtmenetlus). Viiol was sentenced to two years and eight months of imprisonment, then released prematurely in February 2004.

Use of embezzled funds

According to Viiol, he lost most of the embezzled funds through playing in casinos, being a compulsive gambler. Ironically, a significant share of the Fund's resources comes from the gambling tax.