HADERSLEV: A former port employee at Haderslev Municipality was sentenced to one year in prison on Thursday for gross breach of trust for almost 600,000 kroner.
Half a year of the sentence will be unconditional, while the rest will be conditional with a probation period of two years.
The man admitted at the Court in Aarhus to having approved 24 fictitious invoices over a period of two years. As a result, the municipality ended up paying for construction work, goods and services that had never been delivered. He claimed in court that he was persuaded to do it by a friend who was in financial need.
- It was a friend at the time who came to me because he was unemployed and short of money.
- He knew that I had some options and asked if we could make a deal, the man now convicted of fraud said in court.
The money from the fictitious invoices ended up in accounts belonging to the friend at the time. Approximately a third of the amount was returned to the port employee. Since the municipality suspected something was wrong, he has cooperated with the police and confessed in court, choked with tears.
- I regret it and would like to apologize to Haderslev Municipality, the court heard.
Three others involved
The man had to put down his glasses several times and wipe tears from his eyes. Part of the swindled money has been paid back to the municipality, and the man has entered into a repayment agreement for the rest. According to the charges, three other men were involved in the scam.
The man confirmed that he knew one of them, whom he described as his "friend at the time". He did not know the other two, the court heard.
A second case is reportedly underway against these men, and it emerged that the former port employee has been called to give a statement. The defense attorney wanted a purely conditional sentence, but the judge would not agree:
- You are going to prison, we cannot avoid that with the amount and the circumstances of the case.
- It is ice-cold, what you have done, the judge said after fifteen minutes of reflection.
The sentence was immediately appealed to the High Court with a request for leniency.
/ritzau/
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