– We would like that study if we could take it, says Lars Lindencrone Petersen and explains that any conflicts of interest were checked by searching their own system:
– The very terminology of an independent study has the premise that one is not greased into those to be examined.
The High Court forms the framework for a showdown between the Ministry of Taxation and Bech-Bruun, where the Ministry of Taxation claims that Bech-Bruun’s lawyers were incompetent.
The court must decide whether it will blue-stamp the Bar Council’s decision from 2019. Here, the board ruled that Bech-Bruun’s lawyers were incompetent.
Other lawyers in the law firm had in 2014 and 2015 advised the German bank North Channel Bank (NCB), which has been involved in the fraud. The bank has since confessed and has been fined DKK 110 million.
But Bech-Bruun claims in the high court that there is nothing to catch up on in terms of incapacity. Ole Spiermann from the company Bruun & Hjejle, which represents Bech-Bruun, will ask the questions on Tuesday.
– Is there anything extra you wish you had done?
– No. I mean, in fact, we did significantly more than we would have done under normal circumstances.
– We were aware that this was a politically sensitive matter. Therefore, it would be catastrophic if there was a conflict of interest for us, says Lars Lindencrone Petersen.
Others in Bech-Bruun had prepared a so-called legal opinion for the bank NCB in 2014. It was advice on the risk of compensation and punishment due to the bank’s involvement in a transaction model linked to dividend tax.
Lars Lindencrone Petersen says that he has of course thought about what he would have done if he had known about it and also had shown that the bank was reported to the police.
– Then we could not have dreamed of bidding on it, he says.
But he goes on to say that if he had found an opinion that was not illegal or the subject of an investigation, he would not have done anything about it.
The Bar Council’s decision that Bech-Bruun’s lawyers were incompetent also emphasizes that in July 2017 – approximately six months before the investigation was completed – it became clear to the public that NCB was involved in the fraud case.
Lars Lindencrone also says that Bech-Bruun did not get further insight into the suspects for the fraud in the dividend case. But they knew through the media of the main suspect Sanjay Shah, so they searched for him, without finding a conflict of interest.
The case continues on Wednesday, where Steffen Sværke from the Chamber Advocate, who represents the Ministry of Taxation, can ask questions to the lawyer. In addition, there are a large number of other court hearings.
In the shadow of the case of incapacity, a much larger legal settlement also awaits between the law firm and the Ministry of Taxation. The tax administration believes that Bech-Bruun will have to pay 1.2 billion kroner due to the advice of the German bank. But that case has not yet come to court.