ODSHERRED: The board of the crisis-hit utility company Odsherred Forsyning has appointed former director of Odsherred Municipality Torben Greve as interim managing director, the company informs.
The appointment follows the fact that the managing director for the past five years, Fanny Villadsen, resigned earlier this week after a turbulent period stemming from serious financial problems in a district heating project for southern Odsherred.
The problems began to become visible in January this year, when a former finance director, who had been acting CEO for a period, was initially fired. It was shortly afterwards changed to expulsion, on the grounds that he had violated the company's internal guidelines.
In March, a legal investigation was launched and a police report was filed.
The district heating project has been stopped without a new start-up date, despite the fact that many citizens have disconnected the gas and are only waiting for the final connection.
Subsequently, there has been a major change in the board, including the position of chairman, and the local city council politicians this week have had to grant a guarantee of DKK 110.9 million. DKK to the utility company to prevent bankruptcy.
It has also been shown that there has been no separation between the finances of Odsherred Vand and Odsherred Fjernvarme, both of which belong to Odsherred Forsyning.
Expert: Like the Britta Nielsen case
Per Nikolaj Bukh, who is professor of financial management at Aalborg University, compares against Sjællandske Nyheder the case with the scandal about Britta Nielsen, who as an individual stole from the Social Services Agency.
- When you occasionally see cases where there are individuals who have driven at 180 kilometers per hour in the emergency lane and violated some rules, then illegalities and losses can occur. Although it shouldn't be possible, he tells the media.
According to Per Nikolaj Bukh, the fact that they have withheld the information that Odsherred Forsyning is a company in crisis, when the municipality gave a guarantee for a loan to finance the utility company's new domicile in autumn 2023, makes the guarantee illegal.
Complex tasks
The board of the utility company, led by the newly appointed chairman of the board Susan Münster, must hire a new managing director as one of its first tasks. That task has now been initiated, and more complex tasks await.
- Another task is the addition of the last board member to the board, says Susan Münster and adds that it is also important to take good care of the employees in the supply.
Text, graphics, images, sound, and other content on this website are protected under copyright law. DK Medier reserves all rights to the content, including the right to exploit the content for the purpose of text and data mining, cf. Section 11b of the Copyright Act and Article 4 of the DSM Directive.
Customers with IP agreements/major customer agreements may only share Danish Offshore Industry articles internally for the purpose of handling specific cases. Sharing in connection with specific cases refers to journaling, archiving, or similar uses.
Customers with a personal subscription/login may not share Danish Offshore Industry articles with individuals who do not themselves have a personal subscription to Danish Offshore Industry.
Any deviation from the above requires written consent from DK Medier.
