Messerschmidt accused of identity theft

DF politician allegedly misused the name of former colleague

Lucie Rychla

A former member of Dansk Folkeparti has accused Morten Messerschmidt, the party’s sole representative at the EU Parliament, of identity theft and reported him to the police.

It is also believed Rikke Karlsson will report Messerschmidt to OLAF, the EU’s anti-fraud unit.

Elected unawares
In November 2014, Karlsson and another DF politician, Jørn Dohrmann, were elected as representatives for the Movement for a Europe of Liberties and Democracy (MELD) – a right-wing movement at EU level – which has been involved in a large corruption scandal.

Karlsson was even elected as a member of MELD’s executive board responsible for budgeting.

However, both politicians have denied participation at MELD’s general assembly and said they were not aware of being elected as representatives of the organisation.

Hard to live with
“I cannot live with the fact that I was named [a member] of MELD’s main board six months before I even knew about the fund’s existence,” Karlsson told DR.

Karlsson claims her name was mentioned in documents, which required the support of EU representatives of at least seven different nationalities in order to receive EU funds.

READ MORE: Messerschmidt asked to pay back 120,700 kroner for rented boat

Misuse of EU funds
Morten Messerschmidt, who was the chairman of MELD and the affiliated Foundation for a Europe of Liberties and Democracy (FELD), has been found guilty of the misuse of EU funds through these institutions.

Messerschmidt reportedly used the EU funds on campaign posters for Dansk Folkeparti during the build-up to the general election in Denmark in June 2015 as well as during the EU referendum campaign in November 2014.

Although he denied all the accusations, DF was eventually asked to pay 2.9 million kroner back this May.

While the party agreed to pay 1.6 million kroner back to the EU coffers, the remaining 1.3 million was given to an employee of MELD and FELD as a golden parachute payment.

According to Ekstra Bladet, Messerschmidt denies all accusations made in the new case of identity theft.

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