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Danish state prosecutor charges former OW Bunker CEO and execs

Denmark’s state prosecutor for serious economic and international crime (SØIK) has pressed charges against the former CEO of now-bankrupt OW Bunker and other executives, reports say.

Among the accused is ex-CEO Jim Pedersen, who confirmed to Shipping Watch that he and former CFO Morten Skou are among the accused.

Lars Moller, the former director of OW Bunker’s Singapore-based subsidiary Dynamic Oil Trading, is also among those charged, DR News reports.

OW Bunker filed for bankruptcy in November 2014 after a $125m fraud was allegedly committed by senior employees within Dynamic Oil Trading. Executives are alleged to have conspired with the mafia in Rome to cheat the Italian navy out of $50m for fictitious bunker fuel delivered from a non-existent vessel.

Nor Kent Larsen, who was OW Bunker’s CFO during its last months of existence, has also been charged, TV2 says.

OW Bunker’s former risk manager Jane Dahl Christensen has not been accused of wrongdoing by SØIK. Christensen had previously been scape-goated for the bunker supplier’s demise, but the fraud squad reportedly found no basis for criminal charges.

“We have gone against several persons related to OW Bunker, and we are concerned with fraud and breach of trust,” SØIK’s chief inspector Thomas Anderskov told TV 2.

Lars Peter Bohn, OW Bunker’s former head of global sales to government authorities, was arrested in March last year and is still under investigation by Italian authorities.

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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