The case in summary Øystein Danielsen discovered that the company he owns was empty of money, and believes that two trusted employees have used over 2 million of the company’s money for private purposes. Danielsen reported the two in June 2022, but the report was dismissed by Vest Police District due to a lack of capacity. After the two employees were reported by the Tax Agency and several trustees in bankruptcy cases, Danielsen’s lawyer complained about the suspension to the state attorney. The public prosecutor asked the police to look at the case again, and the police reversed the decision to drop the case. The case is now under investigation, but no charges have yet been laid. Danielsen’s lawyer, Jan Magne Isaksen, believes it is critically necessary that the West police district get more resources. Øystein Danielsen has entered into a settlement with the two employees, in which they undertake to pay back NOK 2.1 million. The summary is made by an AI service from OpenAi. The content is quality assured by news’s journalists before publication. Only after a private investigation and a complaint to the state attorney did the police turn around. Now the alleged embezzlement of millions is being investigated. Øystein Danielsen tensely walks around the warehouse of the company he owns and is general manager of, NF Engros. From here he sells goods to the nightlife and restaurant industry in Bergen. He says that two years ago he accidentally discovered that the company he had helped start had run out of money. – Suppliers I had had for years called me and asked where the payment had gone. I had never been late before, and then I had to check and saw that the till was empty, says Danielsen. Feeling deceived, Danielsen started what he had no idea would be such a long and demanding battle. He hired a lawyer and began a careful investigation of all transactions from the company’s accounts. Danielsen believes he can document that two trusted employees have defrauded him. According to Danielsen, they must have used over 2 million of the company’s money for private purposes and their own companies. He therefore reported the two employees in June 2022. – It has cost the company almost a million kroner to investigate, report and sue these two. We wanted the money back and hoped that the long arm of the law would do the rest, says Danielsen. news has been in contact with both of the two reported employees. They do not wish to comment on the matter. No comment Danielsen has reported two previously trusted employees. news has contacted both of them. One does not wish to comment on the case or be interviewed. The other has not responded to repeated requests by e-mail, mobile and to the person concerned’s lawyer. They have not yet been charged by the police for the alleged actions in this case. They have the status of suspects. Danielsen has also taken civil action and in that case has entered into a private settlement with NF Engros where the two have undertaken to repay NOK 2.1 million. The two former employees have also been reported by the tax authorities and by several trustees in bankruptcy cases. news has seen documentation of the transactions that are supposed to show private purchases and that money from NF Engros has been used to, among other things, buy cryptocurrency. The police lacked capacity. He provided thorough documentation to the police. – We delivered a total of three binders with, among other things, bank statements, e-mails and evidence taken from social media, says Marius Larsen. He assisted Danielsen in investigating the case. The report was nevertheless dropped. West Police District did not have the capacity to investigate the case. – The police must prioritize between many cases. The police initially dismissed the case as a result of a lack of case processing capacity, says police prosecutor 2, Anja Mathisen, who is responsible for prosecuting the case. After the police initially dropped the case, the two employees were also reported by the Tax Agency and several trustees in bankruptcy cases. General manager Øystein Danielsen of NF Engros had to spend countless private hours scrutinizing account transactions to uncover the alleged embezzlement from two former employees. Photo: Brynjar Mangor Myrtveit Osgjerd / news Lawyer: – Easy to get away with serious offenses Danielsen’s lawyer, Jan Magne Isaksen, says they refused to accept the police’s closing decision and appealed it to the public prosecutor in Hordaland. – They then requested the West police district to look at the case again in May 2023, and that led to the police themselves reversing the decision to drop the case. This is a battle that has cost, both personally and financially for NF Engros and Øystein Danielsen, says Isaksen. The police have now opened an investigation into the case, but no charges have yet been laid. Mathiesen states that the investigation is in the initial phase, and that the two have status as suspects. Two years after the review was submitted. – Financial crime costs both victims and society huge sums of money every year, and I am very concerned about the development we are seeing, where it is apparently easy to get away with serious offences, says lawyer Isaksen. Lawyer Jan Magne Isaksen believes it is critical that the police are given more resources to investigate financial crime. Photo: Agnieszka Iwanska / news In the meantime, several of the two employees’ other companies have gone bankrupt, and they have also been reported by the trustees for accounting violations. The Norwegian Tax Agency has also submitted reports to the police about the two employees. Isaksen believes it is critically necessary that the West police district must get more resources. He feels confident that the police work conscientiously with the scarce resources they have. Crisis in police budgets A number of news stories this spring have shown that Øystein Danielsen’s story is not unique. In February, news was able to report that the lack of resources for investigating serious violence and murder means that the West police district has to bring in investigators from other priority areas. In particular, the investigation of organized crime and economic crime has suffered as a result of the lack of resources, wrote First State Attorney Eirik Stolt Nielsen in a letter to the West police district. According to Stolt-Nielsen, this leads to cases being left for a long time and new police cases not being opened. – Talk about serious crime Most financial criminal cases that are reported in Norway are frauds. In 2023, fraud accounted for as much as 85 percent of all reported financial criminal cases. The vast majority of these are abandoned after a short time. Previously, Bergens Tidende wrote that the West police district dismisses nine out of ten fraud cases. National figures for financial criminal cases show that fewer and fewer cases remain pending for a long time before they are dismissed or charges are brought. Since 2019, the decline is around 30 per cent. This is due to targeted work, the Norwegian Police Directorate confirms to news. But the cases that remain for longer than a year are the most serious. – Many of these cases can be considered serious economic crime, says senior advisor Robin Håset Drager in the Norwegian Police Directorate. Ecocrime wanted to take over local cases Both politicians and the Norwegian Police Directorate have long known that serious financial criminal cases linger for a long time. Last year, Økokrim chief Pål K. Lønseth was commissioned to investigate a proposal for the future organization of the police’s fight against economic crime and environmental crime. In the report that came out this spring, they propose that Økokrim take over the management of economic and environmental investigations that are currently subject to the local police districts. Ecocrime chief Pål K. Lønseth has not got the police districts on board with reforming the investigation of economic crime. Photo: Håvard Greger Hagen / news West police district expressed strong criticism of the investigation when it was being heard. – Our assessment is that Økokrim’s recommended solution raises important questions of principle that have not been sufficiently investigated, they write. Økokrim’s report In the report, Økokrim writes that the lack of local prioritization of economic crime can be compared to cottage development in the municipalities: “For each individual municipality, such a permit may be appropriate. But Norway as a whole could risk major losses of natural diversity and biological diversity if all municipalities allow large-scale development. This tells us that it is important to look at such issues from a national perspective, not just from a local one”. West police district refers to its consultation process when news asks what they think about the proposal. There they come with scathing criticism of the Økocrim report. The West Police District writes that the “competence, capacity and robustness” of their professional environment is significantly higher than what was assumed in Økokrim’s investigation. They also believe that there will be negative consequences if they lose the flexibility to prioritize their own resources, and that eco-crime takes a too narrow view of the economic field compared to other criminal matters such as drugs. They also believe that it is problematic if the ecocrime field is viewed too narrowly, since financial traces often lead into other criminal cases such as drugs. – Do something with a sense of justice Back in Bergen, Øystein Danielsen is provoked by hearing about the police’s resource situation. – Why does it make you angry? – If it is going to be so easy to defraud and embezzle funds in Norway without being punished, it does something to the sense of justice and trust in the police, says Danielsen. – We should all become white-collar criminals in one way or another, says Danielsen. news has seen the documentation that Danielsen submitted to the police together with the report in the summer of 2022. It shows a number of alleged private withdrawals that one or both of the two employees have carried out after they took over the management of the company. Among other things, they must have: Paid private collection debt of NOK 503,937 and private furniture for NOK 25,300 from the company’s bank account. Bought cryptocurrency for NOK 216,000 with the company’s funds, and transferred NOK 75,000 to a bankruptcy estate one of the employees was involved in privately. Millions of dollars have been used to pay invoices in the two employees’ other companies. In total, the alleged embezzlement must be at least NOK 2 million, according to the investigation carried out by Danielsen and Larsen. The police: – Must prioritize news has asked why the investigation has taken so long after it was reopened: – In connection with this specific case, the report from the chairman of the board was on hold, awaiting the report from the housing board and the tax authority which had been notified would come. However, these came later than what was initially envisaged, replies the prosecuting officer Mathisen. Police attorney 2 Anja Mathiesen states that there have been a number of complaints against the two former employees. Photo: Oskar Rennedal / news She says it was natural to see these cases in context. Danielsen tells news that he is satisfied that the police have started an investigation. He sent a civil lawsuit notice to those employees last year. There, the parties have entered into a settlement in which they undertake to pay back NOK 2.1 million. – That’s all well and good, but this is about not being able to get away with doing what I think these people have done, says Danielsen and adds: – What kind of society do we want, he asks. Published 08.07.2024, at 21.34
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– Should have become a white-collar criminal – news Vestland
