It was against the rules when Copenhagen Business School (CBS) paid a resigning principal a one-time fee of 692,000 kroner.
The National Audit Office concluded this in a report from August, and now the Ministry of Education and Research announces in a press release that they are demanding the entire amount back from CBS.
According to the report, CBS and the then chairman of the board were aware that the payment was in violation of the rules, and the National Audit Office therefore wrote in its report that “the Ministry of Education and Research should demand the part of the grant used that is used in violation of the rules”.
– The Danish Agency for Education and Research is now offsetting CBS for an amount corresponding to the remuneration that was paid in violation of the rules, the ministry informs on Sunday.
– The Danish Agency for Education and Research has also asked CBS to be kept informed of any claims that CBS may raise against the previous board, it reads.
According to the Althing, which has previously written about the case, it is about the then rector in 2019, Per Holten-Andersen.
He left the post that year, and according to the media, he received both the one-time salary of 692,000 kroner and a severance pay of approximately 800,000 kroner.
The National Audit Office notes in the report that the two things cannot be paid out at the same time.
The Althing wrote in August that it was the then chairman of the board, Karsten Dybvad, who approved the payment.
He acted in good faith, he wrote in an email to the media. The amounts were in the principal’s contract, and it was felt that everything was in order.
– The responsibility for concluding the contract is mine, and I naturally take note of the State Auditors ‘and the National Audit Office’s criticism and await CBS’ clarification of the case, he wrote in an email to the Althing.
In the announcement on Sunday from the Ministry of Education and Research, Minister Jesper Petersen (S) states that there is not “so much to rattle about”.
– Government grants must be used correctly. The one-time remuneration to the resigned principal at CBS was paid in violation of the rules, and the call from the National Audit Office for a repayment claim is quite clear. I am satisfied that the Danish Agency for Education and Research is responding, says Jesper Petersen.
Source: The Nordic Page