Bagmandspolitiets sloppiness: Dropped Britta-case after a week and a half

fraud squad (SØIK, red.) is usually known for careful and very lengthy proceedings, but not in the case of Britta Nielsen – and it has cost taxpayers dearly.

Documents from the SØIK and confidential papers from the Parliamentary Committee on legal affairs reveals that SØIK in 2012 after just 12 days, chose to drop an investigation of Britta Nielsen.

instead, sent one case on to the TAX, which terminated the, which Ekstra Bladet could reveal on Monday.

In the documents, it appears that SØIK's Hvidvasksekretariat 19. October 2012 receive a notification that Britta Nielsen in addition to having a received a salary from the Ministry of social affairs – which has remained at about 18,000 dollars per month after tax has been transferred to total five million. dollars from his employer through the big payouts.

It is not, however, set alarm bells ringing at SØIK. 31. October, just a week and a half later, decide SØIK and employees, which was lent by the TAX to SØIK, that the matter should not be investigated further by the police. In the documents it says:

'Of an excel-sheet shows that the cultural awareness training employees at SØIK pr. 31. October 2012 judged that the case of Anna Britta Troelsgaard Nielsen was circulated as a hvidvaskindberetning to the then TAX.'

If SØIK had harvested Britta Nielsen back in 2012, it would have saved the taxpayer a fortune. From 2012 to 2018 lænsede the former administrative officer in the national board of social services the treasury for eur 38.1 million. kr. according to figures from the Ministry of social affairs.

Jacob Dedenroth Bernhoft, director of the revisorjura.dk and expert in money laundering and economic crime, believes that the process has gone quite wrong in the SØIK:

- The employees, who have assessed the case, has committed a grave error, as they were screened, whether it was something you had to go ahead with in SØIK, he says.

According to the expert, the matter is totally clear:

- Only the amount five million. crowns, that you have been reported a suspicion that a person has received from an employer, should of course do that one examines such a case in more detail, says Jacob Dedenroth Bernhoft.

Britta Nielsen is, according to the Ministry of social affairs suspected of rigging the state treasury for the total of 120.5 million. kr. from 1993 to 2018.

the fraud squad wanted yesterday not to elaborate, why you chose to drop the investigation of Britta Nielsen after just a week and a half, or what you specifically did.

instead refers to an earlier press release, where the head of the fraud squad, the attorney general Morten Niels Jakobsen, sorry.

Could be stopped

- In connection with the investigation of the current information about I can quite clearly see that the then SØK were warned about some suspicious account transfers back in October 2012. The information was not investigated by SØK, but only transferred to the TAX as a case of possible tax evasion. After my assessment it was a mistake.

He also acknowledges that the SØIK probably could have stopped Britta Nielsen, if you had gone ahead with the case:

- I fear that the prime suspect, hence, got the opportunity to continue the alleged fraud, which perhaps could have been stopped at an earlier stage. It I can think of good reasons not to know anything about it, but I can quite clearly see that there was an error, since the warning was not investigated to the bottom (...), says Morten Niels Jakobsen.