Nine municipality council members accuse Nyborg municipality of withholding information in mayor investigation

Nine members of Nyborg’s city council have independently contacted the Danish supervisory authority, Ankestyrelsen, alleging that the municipality is withholding relevant information in a case concerning Mayor Kenneth Muhs (V), who is accused of breaking the law, broadcaster DR reported.

In a seven-page letter dated 17 April 2026, obtained by DR through a freedom of information request, the council members from the Social Democrats, SF, and the Conservative Party said the municipality’s statement to Ankestyrelsen “is not satisfactory in relation to the knowledge we have of the case.”

“We find it reprehensible when essential information that is available is not passed on to the authority responsible for investigating whether there are grounds to bring a supervisory case against the mayor,” Social Democrat council member Martin Stenmann told DR.

The case stems from a meeting on 7 October 2021, when Nyborg’s municipal ombudsman, Bjørn Brøndum Pedersen, informed the mayor of a series of “grave errors” in the municipality’s handling of specialised social cases, including children and families in serious jeopardy and a “complete disregard” for citizens’ legal rights. Under the ombudsman’s charter, he was obliged to report such findings to the city council, but the mayor did not pass on the information. Several experts have said this constituted a breach of the mayor’s duty to inform and possibly a violation of the law.

In a statement to Ankestyrelsen dated 26 March 2026, the municipality wrote that “both the mayor and the municipal ombudsman have stated that it was not discussed at the meeting whether the information should be forwarded to the city council.” However, a previously undisclosed email from Pedersen to Nyborg’s municipal director, dated 3 November 2024, indicates otherwise. In the email, which the municipality did not send to Ankestyrelsen, Pedersen wrote: “I called you on Monday, 28 October 2024, and informed you that, upon further reflection, I could not see that the mayor could have been in doubt about why I contacted him on 7 October 2021.”

Ankestyrelsen has been examining the case for more than two years. It is also separately investigating several hundred legal violations in Nyborg’s social department.