NCJ Number
243166
Journal
Journal of Scandinavian Studies in Criminology and Crime Prevention Volume: 13 Issue: 2 Dated: 2012 Pages: 133-141
Date Published
2012
Length
9 pages
Annotation
This article explores the case of a mayor who for 8 years worked 'miracles' for 'his' municipality but was later revealed to have built this community on circumvention of control mechanisms and laws.
Abstract
With the background knowledge that Denmark is one of the least corrupt nations in the world, this article explores the case of a mayor who for 8 years worked 'miracles' for 'his' municipality but was later revealed to have built this community on circumvention of control mechanisms and laws. For this (and for his overwhelming consumption of expensive wines at the taxpayers' expense) he was later sentenced to 4 years of imprisonment. He was not driven by personal economic gain, but more likely by a mixture between creating a municipality of his dreams and the almost absolute power that he ended up with just before the scandal hit the headlines. The case was revealed by two journalists from a yellow newspaper, but very soon police and other authorities as well as his fellow politicians followed up on the revelations, and his former political friends turned their back on him. It is not the story of a mayor who was bribed - but of a mayor who turned out to be 'corrupt' in a wider sense of the word. Abstract published by arrangement with Taylor and Francis.