Jersey authorities return £90,000 of Danish proceeds of crime to Denmark

Wednesday 07 June 2017

£90,000 of assets seized in 2014 in connection with a Danish criminal case involving aggravated fraud against creditors and bankruptcy related offences has been returned to the Danish authorities, the Law Officers' Department has revealed.

Her Majesty's Attorney General has been assisting the Danish State Prosecutor for Serious Economic and International Crime in Copenhagen with the case since July 2013.

Mr Bjorn Stiedl was convicted of fraud by the City Court of Copenhagen in June 1999 after being involved in extensive asset stripping of target companies which resulted in the bankruptcy of those companies and losses totalling £38,000,000. The defendant was sentenced to seven years’ imprisonment and a Confiscation Order made against him for  £7,800,000.

Further proceedings were then brought against the defendant in the United Kingdom relating to a separate fraud committed against a Scottish pension fund involving an amount in excess of £2,000,000.  He was convicted in August 2005 and sentenced to a term of imprisonment of four and a half years Upon his release in November 2009, he appeared before the Danish Eastern High Court where the Confiscation Order made against him was upheld while his sentence was reduced to six years.

In July 2014, the Attorney General applied for and was granted an asset freezing order in relation to bank accounts held by the defendant in the Island in the name of his former secretary, following a request for assistance from the Danish authorities.

Further fraud charges were brought against Stiedl in December 2014. It was alleged he had failed to disclose assets hidden abroad, which were held by third parties but owned in reality by the defendant and he was sentenced in March 2015 to three and a half years imprisonment by the Court of Lyngby in Denmark. He made an appeal but was unsuccessful.

In July 2015, just under £90,000 of the Jersey restrained assets were returned to the Danish authorities. Following a further request for assistance from the Danish authorities, an External Confiscation Order made against the defendant was registered by the Royal Court at the end of last year. A period was allowed for the defendant’s former secretary to make any representations she might have but none were received.

An amount of just under £20,000 has now been paid into the Criminal Offences Confiscations Fund and will be used for the benefit of the Island.

Jersey’s Attorney General Mr Robert MacRae QC said: “Whilst the sum confiscated in this case is relatively modest, this case again demonstrates Jersey’s ability to combat international money laundering.  It also shows that we will track down and confiscate the proceeds of crime when they are hidden in the name of front men or nominees.”