Councillors seek legal review of possible police report against golf magnate

Ikast-Brande municipal council will consider whether to obtain a legal assessment of a possible police report concerning the development of Ikast Golf Club, DR reports. The council will also decide how many exemptions to grant owner and developer Jens Poulsen, who is turning the golf club into a luxury resort.

The municipality has identified 15 instances in which the development appears to conflict with nature legislation, the local plan or permits for areas outside urban zones. Most of the measures have already been established.

The case includes the removal of protected nature covered by Section 3 of Denmark’s nature protection rules. Two councillors want a legal assessment of whether the matter should be reported to police.

“If Danish law has been broken, there is a procedure that also brings consequences. I should not determine guilt or punishment, so I believe a legal assessment is necessary,” said Deputy Mayor Kasper Pauli Petersen of the Social Democrats.

He is supported by Simon Vanggaard of the Danish People’s Party, who strongly criticised the case.

“This may be the biggest scandal in our municipal history,” Vanggaard said.

Asked whether it was the council’s responsibility to file a police report, he said the legal assessment should provide the answer.

“It is not unheard of in other municipalities that a police report would have been filed immediately in a case like this,” Vanggaard said.

Poulsen, who owns the golf course and is the developer behind the project, declined to comment before the council meeting. He has been given speaking time during the council’s question session because he believes the case has not been presented accurately.

Mayor Ib Lauritsen of the Liberal Party said the municipality might need to examine whether the project had gone beyond what was acceptable.

“On the other hand, I am built in such a way that I think: Can we resolve this without the police? Can we resolve it without involving others?” he said.

The council meeting starts at 6.30pm.