Another chapter in the so-called ATEA case, also referred to as the largest bribery case involving public employees in Danish history, has recently been closed.
ATEA, Nordic IT infrastructure company is counted as the leading supplier of IT infrastructure and system integration in the Nordic and Baltic regions with thousands of employees and present in 87 cities in Norway, Sweden, Denmark, Finland, Lithuania, Latvia, and Estonia and.
The bribery case has been public for several years and was the result of an investigation that began in June 2015. In summary, the main case revolves around purchases made by the Municipality Region of Zealand of IT infrastructure services provided by ATEA. Several public sector employees have already been prosecuted and sentenced in the case and ATEA, as a corporate entity has been found guilty of bribery and sentenced to a fine of DKK 10 million. The public prosecutor has now expanded the scope of the prosecution to cover former employees of ATEA Denmark.
In the most recent court hearing a 63-year-old former IT manager in Rudersdal Municipality (under Municipality Region of Zealand) was sentenced to six months’ conditional imprisonment for Bribery (giving or accepting bribes).
The verdict came after the former IT manager mainly admitted to having been on golf holidays to Thailand, where part of the expenses was paid by the IT company ATEA or the municipality’s account with ATEA. The former IT manager had been on three golf holidays to Thailand between 2012-2014 together with the then Sales Manager of ATEA, Per Juul Andersen, and another acquaintance. The former IT manager admitted that although ATEA partly paid for the trips, it was purely private holidays to Thailand where the trio enjoyed golfing, food and drinks, and an internal competition between the three called Thailand Open. It is estimated that the former IT manager has gained a total of DKK 42.000 from the three Thailand trips and in addition, he was also convicted for accepting two dinners and for keeping or selling a computer, an Ipad, and several phones belonging to Rudersdal Municipality during his employment there.
The 63-year-old man will not serve his sentence if he meets the requirement to perform 120 hours of community service and in addition, he has to pay a fine of DKK 60,000 as that equates to the overall amount he has gained in the case.
Source: Nord Jyske
