Denmark’s tax ministry orders review of rules for cryptocurrencies

Denmark’s taxation minister Morten Bødskov announced on Tuesday that the country’s independent tax law committee would look at the regulatory framework around cryptocurrencies such as Bitcoin. 

“We must be vigilant and ensure that our rules are up-to-date and limit fraud and mistakes,” he said in a statement. 

In the years up until 2019, the Danish Tax Agency has identified approximately 16,000 companies and individuals who had made trades using cryptocurrencies, two-thirds of whom had not properly informed the tax authorities.

Women reported most occupational injuries due to coronavirus

Women have reported 6,000 of the 8,000 occupational injuries related to the coronavirus pandemic in Denmark, according to Labour Market Insurance, the agency responsible for judging claims under the Workers’ Compensation Act. 

“There are almost three times as many women as men who have reported occupational injury due to Covid-19,” said Lisbet Dyrberg, the agency’s customer center director.  “This is probably due to the fact that a large part of the occupational exposure to covid-19 infection has taken place in industries where many women are employed.”

“Nurses come into close contact with infected people, which is why I am especially pleased that it has been recognized as an occupational injury,” said Anni Pilgaard, deputy chairman of the Danish Nurses’ Council. “There is a risk of becoming ill with long-running effects, and therefore there should be an opportunity to receive compensation.”

Yngre Læger, from the Association of Young Doctors, which represents 14,000 hospital doctors, said 46 percent of those who fall ill to coronavirus have failed to report it as an occupational injury. 

Social Democrat party secretary admits “we have a problem” around sexual harassment

Jan Juul Christensen, party secretary in the Social Democrats, has acknowledged that the party has problems with sexual harassment of young women in the party, after the Berlingske newspaper on Sunday reported the stories of seven women who have experienced sexually transgressive behavior from a former male employee of the party. 

“It is clear when such cases come up, and I can not rule out that there will be more in the future, that we have a problem,” he told the Ritzau newswire. “It will take time before everyone in the whole party understands the seriousness of this. We need to work with this and focus on it, and I think we are in the process of doing that.”

He said that the man had resigned from the party at the end of 2020, but acknowledged that at least one of the women did not think that her case had been properly handled. 

The personal affairs committee of the Social Democrats’ youth party, DSU, is opening a sexual harassment case against the former employee of the Social Democrats, DSU’s chairman Frederik Vad Nielsen told Politiken.

Danish Men in Black anti-lockdown protestor escapes “double punishment” 

A 20-year-old man has been sentenced to one year in prison by the Copenhagen City Court for throwing four flares at the police during a demonstration held by the anti-lockdown group Men In Black. 

Although the crime took place at Denmark’s most violent anti-lockdown protest on January 9, the court decided not to impose double punishment under section 81 d of the Criminal Code, which applies if “the offence has a background in or connection with the covid-19 epidemic in Denmark”.

The double-punishment clause was used in a case of a 31-year-old woman who was convicted of inciting violence at the same demonstration in Copenhagen, with her one-year prison sentence doubled to two.

The high court is expected to make a judgement in the case of the woman on Wednesday.

30-year-old man stabbed in the back in Copenhagen 

A 25-year-old man has been charged with aggravated violence after he stabbed a 30-year-old man several times in the back at Amager Strandpark on Tuesday night, police said on Wednesday morning. 

“We have questioned the victim. He has been treated but has not been discharged from the hospital yet,” said Baris Tuncer, the a police officer working on the case.  “We still do not quite know what preceded the stabbing, but we know that there were several people gathered outside at Amager Strandpark.

Tuncer called for any witnesses, who had seen, for instance, cars driving to or from the scene before or after the stabbing.