DENMARK Law and Practice Contributed by: Simon Evers Hjelmborg, Christian Monberg, Linn Dyrgaard Stinus and Ann Sophie Juul Hird, Accura Advokatpartnerselskab
The Social Services Case A former employee of the national social ser - vices agency embezzled approximately DKK117 million (around EUR15.7 million) over a span of 25 years. The former employee diverted funds intended for social projects into personal accounts. The fraud was uncovered in 2018, leading to the former employee’s arrest in South Africa, and subsequent extradition to Denmark to face trial. During the trial, the former employee admitted to the embezzlement but claimed to be caught in a “vicious circle” and partly moti - vated by a desire to improve the lives of their three children, who were also charged with han - dling stolen goods. In February 2020, the for - mer employee was sentenced to six and a half years in prison for their crimes. The court found them guilty of fraud of a particularly grave nature, abusing a public position, and forgery. In addi - tion to the prison sentence, over DKK113 million (approximately EUR15 million) of the individual’s assets were confiscated. 7.6 Level of Sanctions Imposed The level of sanctions differs from case to case depending on the circumstances surrounding the committed offence. As shown in 7.5 Recent Landmark Investigations or Decisions , prison sentences ranging from a few days to several years are not rare when it comes to these offenc - es and the financial gains achieved through the illicit act will often be confiscated. Furthermore, fines will likely be imposed on companies when applicable.
if the legal person is of a certain form. In the fol - lowing sections, legislation that binds specific legal persons or sectors is listed. The authors note that if the company is operat - ing internationally, the company might be sub - ject to the jurisdiction of other countries in which the compliance programme requirements are stricter than in Denmark. Section 99a of the Financial Statements Act stipulate that public listed companies with more than 500 employees are obligated to report on Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR). The CSR-directive outlines certain requirements to companies, including reporting on measures taken on anti-bribery and anti-corruption. Section 115 of the Companies Act specifies if a company has a board of directors, the board of directors must ensure a proper organisation of the company; eg, ensure that the company has established procedures for risk management and internal monitoring programmes. This also relates to programmes revolving around anti- corruption. Refer to 8.2 Compliance Guidelines and Best Practices on guidelines on corporate governance that further outlines best practices. The Anti-Money Laundering Act obliges com - panies and persons in certain sectors to estab - lish compliance programmes. The Anti-Money Laundering Act primarily establishes obligations on companies and persons in the financial sec - tor, law firms and other companies that handle funds. The obligations entail the establishment of compliance programmes and internal monitoring of the company’s obligations and risk manage - ment (Sections 7 and 8 of the Anti-Money Laun - dering Act).
8. Compliance Expectations 8.1 Compliance Obligations
Under Danish law, there are only requirements on the implementation of compliance programmes or procedures on anti-bribery or anti-corruption
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