Danish Social Worker Convicted Over $17 Million Welfare Fraud
Danish Social Worker Convicted Over $17 Million Welfare Fraud
(Bloomberg) -- A court in Copenhagen has sentenced a 65-year-old social worker to 6.5 years in prison after she was found guilty of embezzling $17 million of welfare money for decades.
Britta Nielsen was extradited from South Africa, where she had fled after becoming a suspect in what is considered the worst corruption scandal of its kind.
The case has shocked Denmark, which ranks first in the Transparency International index. The Nordic nation is still trying to track down billions of dollars lost through a combination of tax evasion and a botched handling of foreign claims on dividend taxes. Meanwhile, Denmark’s biggest lender, Danske Bank A/S, is at the center of an historic money laundering scandal.
--With assistance from Morten Buttler.
To contact the reporter on this story: Nick Rigillo in Copenhagen at nrigillo@bloomberg.net
To contact the editor responsible for this story: Christian Wienberg at cwienberg@bloomberg.net
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