Santa Claus is bankrupt

His firm Dianordia in his home country Finland has to pay back €200,000 (£142,880) in unpaid taxes or kids this Christmas will be left weeping.

Santa Claus is broke.

But Kariniemi believes they can keep Santa at home, saying he’s “not yet bankrupt, and we are confident a solution will be found”. Kariniemi remarks that half of the amount owed has already been collected.

Every year around 300,000 tourists of 100 different nationalities visit Santa’s Office – which claims to be the official one – in Finnish Lapland.

The Village and the other companies are not affected by the court’s proceedings.

Japanese tourists have replaced Russians as the centre’s leading customers, as sanctions imposed over Moscow’s role in the Ukraine crisis and a sharp decline in the price of Russia’s major export, oil, have hit its economy hard.

Despite fears that Santa Claus might be out of a job this Christmas, the head of the Rovaniemi Regional Development Agency, Juha Seppala, also said his organization would make sure Santa is there in the future.

The management of the theme park says that it still has another week to settle the fiscal issue and hopes that it will be able to avoid closing the Santa Claus residence.

“First, there were fewer tourists coming from Greece, then from Spain, Italy and Portugal, and eventually from Russian Federation”, he explained, referring to the economic downturn in those countries. The activities will continue in one way or another, ‘ he told AFP.