Court jails 12 people in money laundering and VAT fraud case

A Copenhagen City Court judge has ordered 12 men and women with Chinese backgrounds to be held in pre-trial detention in a case involving alleged money laundering and VAT fraud, DR reports.

Prosecutors have charged the group with laundering 121 million kroner and committing VAT fraud worth 23 million kroner. The alleged offences are believed to have taken place partly through two luxury goods shops, where expensive items such as bags were allegedly traded fictitiously to conceal the origins of large sums of money believed to come from criminal activity.

Eleven of the suspects were arrested and appeared in a specially secured courtroom at Copenhagen City Court, located at Vestre Prison. The constitutional hearing began shortly before 10am on Thursday and ended at 4.30am on Friday. The court reconvened at 3.30pm on Friday to deliver its decision.

The 11 arrested suspects will remain in custody, as will a twelfth person who was not arrested and is believed to be abroad. The judge said there was reasonable suspicion that the suspects were guilty and that the other conditions for detention had been met.

The woman believed to be abroad is alleged to play a central role in the case. According to the charges, she established in 2016 the company through which the alleged criminal activity took place. Police surveillance, wiretaps and searches provided the basis for the judge’s assessment that the grounds for suspicion were sufficient.

All the suspects deny wrongdoing and are considering whether to appeal the decision to the Eastern High Court. They are provisionally due to remain in custody until 9 September.