Two Danish police officers have been charged with embezzlement and abuse of power after they allegedly pocketed money from ticket fines paid in cash by foreign drivers. One of the two has also been charged with falsifying documents.
At least five foreign citizens have paid traffic fine fees to the two policemen – who did not work in the same area and do not know each other – and the authorities in six countries (Belgium, Bulgaria, Italy, Poland, Sweden and Germany) are working with the Danish police gathering evidence in the case.
“We have asked the countries to have the people identified and interviewed,” the independent police complaints authority Den Uafhængige Politiklagemyndighed (DUP), said in a press release.
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Expanding investigations
The DUP is requesting that foreign citizens who have received a fine from the police and paid in cash to contact them. Both policemen have pled not guilty, but the two men risk prison sentences if convicted.
The instances in question arose between the middle of 2013 and the beginning of 2014, but the DUP is prepared to expand their investigations as far back as 2010, should evidence support doing so.
Foreign drivers are permitted to pay policemen in cash on the spot if they are pulled over and fined in Denmark.