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Danish court convicts former Maersk Drilling rig manager of $3.5m fraud

A court in Denmark has found a Russian national guilty of defrauding Maersk Drilling out of some DKK 23m ($3.5m).

Vladimir Volkov has been sentenced to four years in prison and ordered to repay the Danish company with the sum lost, according to press reports.

While working as a senior executive on a Maersk Drilling rig off the west coast of Africa, Volkov fraudulently approved payments for non-existent deliveries from company in Ghana. The supplier then transferred most of the remittances to the offender’s private bank account.

The frauds took place between March 2011 and March 2014, until suspicious co-workers reported Volkov’s actions to company officials, who contacted Denmark’s Fraud Squad.

The 30-year-old was arrested at Copenhagen Airport on June 12. It took Denmark’s Fraud Squad just 76 days to build the case against him, have him tried and subsequently sentenced.

Volkov lives in Russia, but the police were ready at the airport when he was visiting Denmark, reports say.

Holly Birkett

Holly is Splash's Online Editor and correspondent for the UK and Mediterranean. She has been a maritime journalist since 2010, and has written for and edited several trade publications. She is currently studying for membership of the Institute of Chartered Shipbrokers. In 2013, Holly won the Seahorse Club's Social Media Journalist of the Year award. She is currently based in London.
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