Danish building contractor Morten Steiniche has at the Court of Hjørring in North Jutland been convicted of violation of the Danish immigration law and fined DKK 10,000 for having hired a Vietnamese apprentice without a residence permit.
Toan Minh Le had moved to Denmark with his mother in 2002. He did not know that he was staying illegally in Denmark. He received both SU and paid taxes in Denmark when he was hired as an apprentice in Morten Steincke’s company. Only when the young Vietnamese would take driver’s license, it was discovered that he had no residence permit in Denmark.
Still, the court ruled that the contractor should have discovered it.
The contractor plans to appeal.
“The fine of DKK 10,000, we can probably afford. It’s more the principle in the case,” he told Nordjyske.dk
Danish parliamentarian Bjarne Laustsen (Social Democrats) has followed the case closely and are finds the ruling completely unreasonable.
“I think it’s deeply unfair. Now the builder a criminal record, although he acted in good faith and solved a task for society to take an apprentice into the company,” Bjarne Laustsen said to Nordjyske.dk
