In a hotel in the suburbs of Johannesburg, police said Danmarks Radio: Danish and South African investigators have arrested a Danish woman who allegedly cheated the state of the Scandinavian country for just under 15 million euros - at the expense of the needy and homeless and drug addicts.
For weeks, investigators had searched internationally for the erstwhile senior executives of the Danish social services. The 64-year-old is suspected of having diverted a total of 111 million Danish kroner over years to his own accounts. The scams in 274 cases flew up during an internal audit in September 2018. The public prosecutor's office claims to submit an extradition request.
Report: Large amount of cash on arrest
"The flight is over and the main suspect has been arrested, as a result of targeted international cooperation between the International Criminal Investigation Bureau and a number of international authorities," said police officer Thomas Anderskov Riis, according to a statement by the Danish Public Prosecutor's Office.
"Now there is hope that we can finally clear the case and get an answer for where the rest of the millions disappeared." The conservative Danish Minister of Justice Søren Pape Poulsen spoke of a "good work" of the investigators.
According to South African investigators, Danmarks Radio reported that a large amount of cash had been found at the arrest on the suspected fraudster. According to a report in the tabloid "BT", the woman with the skimmed-off money was said to have promoted her daughter's riding adventures and occasionally run her own stud farm.