Police to investigate another leaked Taxgate letter

No-one knows who leaked a classified letter by one of the Taxgate Commission’s main witnesses to a tabloid paper

Nov 14, 2013

For the fifth time during its two-year investigation, the Taxgate Commission has reported a case to the police, this time following the leak of a letter written by a key witness, the head of tax authority Skat Indsats, Erling Andersen, to the tabloid BT.

In the leaked letter, Andersen accused one of the primary suspects in the case, former Tax Minister Troels Lund Poulsen (V), and his head of department, Peter Loft, of demanding fixed statements from Skat. He also wrote that the commission should get Mette Thorn, who was press secretary in the Tax Ministry in 2010, to testify because he claimed she was withholding important information.

"I am convinced that a hearing of former press secretary Mette Thorn will extend the Taxgate Commission's impression of what happened during the ministry's interaction with the media," the letter stated.

In response to the leak, the Taxgate Commission has asked the police to investigate who among the 19 lay representatives involved in the Taxgate hearings gave the letter to BT.

"Today's BT refers to Erling Andersen's remarks and the commission's letter," the Taxgate Commission wrote on its website. "There is reason to believe that one of the lay representatives has violated their vow of confidentiality regarding classified material and the commission is therefore reporting the case to the Copenhagen Police."

First leak since anonymous letter
The last time the commission reported a leak to the police was in September when Berlingske newspaper published a controversial anonymous letter accusing prominent politicians of opposition party Venstre of having conspired to influence the tax audit of PM Helle Thorning-Schmidt (S) and her husband Stephen Kinnock.

Forty-six witnesses have been called to the Taxgate hearings and so far Venstre leader Lars Løkke Rasmussen and the party's former tax ministers, Troels Lund Poulsen and Peter Christensen, have denied that Venstre tried to interfere with Kinnock’s tax audit.

The next and final hearing is on December 18. The commission is due to present its conclusions in March and has encouraged other witnesses to step forward until then.