Three men and two women are charged with gross fraud and five other offenses at three car care centers in Bergen. Four of the five defendants are related.
The defendants are a 56 year old man who ran the company with his son (31). In addition to those two, the 56 year old’s daughter-in-law (25), his nephew (30) and a 28-year-old woman are all accused.
State Attorney Rudolf Christoffersen says to Bergens Tidende that both of the women were paid salary even though they did not work in any of the companies. They were then entitled to sick leave benefits and other NAV benefits.
The indictment list is long. The prosecutor believes they collected over NOK 1.8 million in social security insurance fraud, attempted social security insurance fraud of NOK 642,000, tax evasion of NOK 282,000, VAT fraud for NOK 427,000, cash loss of the companies for more than NOK 600,000 and the use of illegal labor without a work permit in Norway.
The defense lawyer, of the 31 year old male (son), states that his client denies guilt. It is unknown how the others plead rely on the charges.
The police obtained evidence by keeping surveillance on the businesses so that they could see who did or did not work there.
“The videos show that people who were on unemployment benefits or were on sick leave were working while those people who were supposed to be at work, were not,” explains Christoffersen.
The case is not yet estimated.
© NTB scanpix / #Norway Today
