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CRIME

Council employee fired for swindling millions

Nearly five million kroner of Gentofte Council's money has been misused since 2009 and council employees weren't aware of anything until a curious resident came to their aid.

Council employee fired for swindling millions
Gentofte Town Hall. Photo: Gentofte Kommune
A former employee of Gentofte Council is suspected of using nearly five million kroner in public funds for her own use. 
 
According to TV2 News, the woman is suspected of swindling 4.7 million kroner ($842,000) from 2009 until July 2014. The alleged misconduct was discovered when a resident conducted business with the woman and noticed that the woman’s payment came from a bank account owned by Gentofte Council, a suburban municipality north of Copenhagen.  
 
When it was brought to the council’s attention, officials subsequently discovered suspicious withdrawals and transfers dating back to 2009. 
 
Gentofte Council’s administrative director Frank Andersen confirmed to TV2 News that the woman was fired after the misuse was reported on July 28th.  
 
“A police report has been filed,” he said. “That we didn’t find it earlier is solely because supervision [of the account] was not maintained.”
 
Andersen said that an employee in charge of the council’s bank account has been temporarily suspended from work. According to TV2, there is no indication that the supervisor was involved in the misuse of funds. 

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CRIME

Denmark to add war crimes to criminal code

Denmark is to give international war crimes a specific paragraph in its criminal code, ending its position as one of the last European countries not to have specific laws on war crimes.

Denmark to add war crimes to criminal code

The government confirmed on Tuesday that it supports a motion by the opposition Socialist People’s Party (SF) to introduce a war crimes paragraph.

“I think it’s important to say first and foremost that war crimes are already illegal in Danish criminal law,” Justice Minister Peter Hummelgaard told news wire Ritzau.

“It is not written in as specific clauses in the criminal law, but all offences that are war crimes are criminal,” he said.

“But with all that said, I think that SF has an important point in saying that the time has now come for us to introduce an independent criminalisation of war crimes. I think that would send out an important message to the world, and especially to victims,” he said.

“I will therefore, when the motion is discussed tomorrow [Tuesday, ed.] say, that the government backs criminalising war crimes independently under Danish law,” he said.

Hummelgaard plans to initiate a committee to look into how laws against war crimes can be written and added to the criminal code.

The committee will also consider whether sentences for war crimes should be higher than existing sentences given from crimes such as murder and torture.

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