News brief
Fraud accusations against two Danida Business Partnerships in Indonesia
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he Danish Foreign Ministr y announced on 15 April 2020 that its lawyers had initiate legal proceedings against two companies in the Danida Business Partnership programme in Indonesia suspected of fraud. The attorney of the Danish Foreign Ministry demanded on behalf of the Foreign Ministry of Denmark full repayment of the funds which the companies in the partnership had withdrawn. The repayment would amount to 2.152.744 DKK ($ 314.076,09). The accused had denied the allegations of the Foreign Ministry of Denmark while also refusing to meet the demand of repayment, the statement said.
Kasper Helmgaard Rask, political and economic advisor at the Danish Embassy in Indonesia, clarifies that it is not the entire programme that has been suspended – only the cooperation with the two businesses involved. “The Danish Embassy has decided to suspend the individual par tnerships with two businesses from two different projects under the Danida Business Programme. It is not the entire programme that has been suspended,” says Kasper Helmgaard Rask to ScandAsia. The two businesses, whose par tnership agreements has been suspended, are Syntes Engineering and Smoke Solution ApS.
Information provided by one of the other partners in the Daninda Business programme initiated the investigation of Syntes Engineering, while a random test of project partners’ requests for funding led to the investigation of Smoke Solution ApS, according to the political and economic advisor from the Danish Embassy in Indonesia Kasper Helmgaard Rask.
Norwegian’s cabin- and pilot crew companies file for bankruptcy in Sweden and Denmark
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he Danish and Swedish staff of the airline company Norwegian were technically employed by three companies in Denmark and one in Sweden.These four companies have all filed for bank-
8 ScandAsia • May 2020
ruptcy due to the stand-still situation of the airline industry leaving 1,571 pilots and 3,134 cabin crew staff unemployed. In a press release issued by Norwegian on 20 April 2020, the
airline explains that the Boards of the Scandinavian companies felt they were ‘left with no choice but to apply for bankruptcy’. “Our pilots and cabin crew are the core of our business and they have done a fantastic job for many years. It is heart-breaking that our Swedish and Danish pilot- and cabin crew subsidiaries now are forced to file for bankruptcy,” announces the CEO of Norwegian, Jacob Schram. “I’m truly sorry for the consequences this will have for our colleagues. We are working around the clock to get through this crisis and to return as a stronger Norwegian with the goal of bringing as many colleagues back in the air as possible,” adds the CEO.
