A former owner of Burger King restaurants has been paid 3.4 million kroner from corona aid packages, despite the fact that, according to a now appealed city court ruling, he has committed VAT and tax fraud.
It writes Dagbladet Information and the business media Finans.
At the same time as Riaz Butt was in court in the spring of 2020 in a case of extensive VAT and tax fraud, he received DKK 2.8 million in salary compensation for his eight Burger King restaurants.
In January this year, he was paid an additional 670,000 kroner in compensation.
Several tax and justice rapporteurs will now look at whether there is a need to adjust the rules on the payment of corona aid.
– It sounds to me quite strange that you should be obliged to pay large amounts of support, while the recipient is reasonably suspected of gross tax fraud, says the Liberal Party’s legal spokesman, Preben Bang Henriksen, to Finans og Information.
At the Unity List, finance and tax spokesman Rune Lund will have tightened the rules.
– It must at least be possible to withhold money. Because if we pay out in this way, we could just as well throw money into the sea, says Rune Lund.
Riaz Butt has appealed his verdict and has reported back through his lawyer that he does not want to comment due to the pending appeal. The lawyer states that Riaz Butt is currently leaving Denmark.
The alleged financial crime in the case lasted from 2013 to 2016. According to the city court ruling, Riaz Butt officially hired employees for his firms through five different temp agencies that paid neither VAT, taxes nor taxes.
Following the ruling, Burger King in Denmark has terminated the contract with Riaz Butt, and several of his restaurants have now gone bankrupt. In several of the companies, the salary compensation was transferred abroad immediately after receipt.
Source: The Nordic Page