The state's bill for a long-running investigation commission is now budgeted at 467 million kroner. The commission was established in 2017 by the then VLAK government to investigate a number of conditions in the former Skat. (Photo: © Signe Goldmann/Ritzau Scanpix) By Ritzau ( [email protected] ) 56 minutes ago
The investigation commission on Skat, which for nearly ten years has been investigating Skat's problems with debt collection as well as the dividend case, is expected to end up costing the state close to half a billion kroner. This is shown by a new budget estimate that has been sent in a briefing to the Danish Parliament (Folketinget). The budget estimate is made for a ten-year investigation period, and in that case, the state will have incurred expenses of 467.3 million kroner for the commission's work. This is an increase compared to October last year, when the bill amounted to nearly 400 million kroner for the investigation commission. The commission currently expects that "the final work on the report's chapters" will take place in the latter half of 2026 and the beginning of 2027. Thus, it appears that the investigation commission will spend at least ten years on the work.
------------------------------ Must also investigate dividend case ------------------------------
It was established in 2017 by the then VLAK government to investigate a number of conditions in the then Skat. Later, a supplementary terms of reference was added, where the dividend case ( https://www.dr.dk/nyheder/penge/hoejesteret-i-london-giver-danmark-stor-sejr-efter-strid-med-finanshus ) also had to be investigated. The dividend case is about how Danish tax authorities in the 2010s were defrauded into paying out billions in refunds of dividend tax. Former tax minister Karsten Lauritzen (V) held a press conference about the dividend case at the then tax ministry in 2019. (Photo: © Liselotte Sabroe/Ritzau Scanpix) Professors have previously pointed out that a too broad formulation of the task in the terms of reference has meant that the investigation commission still has not submitted its report after now nine years. The commission has received just over 56 million electronic files from authorities during the process. Read also: Supreme Court in London gives Denmark a major victory after dispute with financial house ( https://www.dr.dk/nyheder/penge/hoejesteret-i-london-giver-danmark-stor-sejr-efter-strid-med-finanshus ) A total of 267 hearings have been conducted from 2019 to 2023, plus one additional hearing in 2025. In total, 163 people have been questioned by the commission. Expenditures for the legal representatives of those questioned are set at 64.8 million kroner in the latest budget. Politiken has previously described the million-dollar costs for the lawyers, who to a large extent have been able to assess for themselves when it has been relevant to attend the court hearings in order to advise their clients. In 2024, Politiken described, for example, how a court-appointed lawyer for former tax minister Jonas Dahl (SF), who was tax minister for 49 days, had attended 112 days, even though the questioning of Jonas Dahl lasted a quarter of an hour. The court-appointed lawyer had at that time in January 2024 invoiced over 3.3 million kroner for his work. He denied to Politiken that he had attended more often than necessary.
RITZAU
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