Man convicted of national insurance fraud of 700,000 kroner

NAVLogo NAV. Photo Norway Today Media

A man has been sentenced to seven months in prison by Bergen County Court for having received 696,000 kroner from Nav, without disclosing that he simultaneously was running a restaurant.
The sentence is three months shorter than in the plea of the prosecutor, and three months of the sentence is suspended,  according to the newspaper Bergens Tidende.
On report cards to NAV, the man stated that he was not working, but after this had been going on for a long , Nav informed him that he had been paid too much in national insurance. The argument for this was that he ran a restaurant.
The 31-year-old man denied culpability and said it was his wife who ran the restaurant. He was only listed as the person at the restaurant for the authorities to contact because she didn’t know any  Norwegian. He also claimed that a third person had worked for free when his wife was not able to work, but the court did not believe in the man’s explanation. The wife also applied for national insurance support from Nav and did not specify that she ran the restaurant. The court believes it is proven that she neither ran or worked in the restaurant.
– I think this is a comprehensive and good verdict,  police attorney Kristine Knutsen Berge of the West police said. The council for the defence has been unable to comment on the matter to the newspaper.

 

Source: NTB scanpix / Norway Today