Bikers need not apply - Bank loans to gang businesses worry police
Bank loans to motorcycle gang members is a practice the National Police find troubling and morally questionable
A large number of the country's biggest banks have helped to finance motorcycle gangs’ businesses and individual members’ private ventures, according to Business.dk.
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Source: Bikers need not apply - Bank loans to gang businesses worry police
A large number of the country's biggest banks have helped to finance motorcycle gangs’ businesses and individual members’ private ventures, according to Business.dk.
Quote from the article:
| A study conducted by Berlingske Business of gangs, their headquarters and members’ private companies showed that both Hells Angels and Bandidos enjoy financial support from the established banking environment, either directly or indirectly. One bank in particular, the recently bankrupt Fionia Bank, was found to be a common lender to motorcycle gang businesses. The bank had granted several loans to the Hells Angels’ Nomads group's headquarters in the city’s Amager district. Danske Bank was also found to have aided gang-affiliated businesses, being the primary financial institution for Bandidos leader Jan Bachmann Nielsen and his private companies, as well as for the well-known gang-connected Lundberg family. Kim Kliver, director of the police’s National Centre for Investigation (NEC), said the practice was a disturbing one. ‘It’s difficult to generalise, but you can question whether it’s appropriate for the established business world to become involved with people from the gang environment,’ said Kliver. ‘It sends an unfortunate signal by giving legitimacy to those businesses.’ But Vagn Pedersen, head of tax authority Skat’s centre for economic crime, emphasised that neither the banks nor business professionals that provide financial support to motorcycle gang-related ventures are doing anything illegal. He did, however, add that the practice creates a moral dilemma. ‘Most people would generally say they were against working with people from that environment,’ he said. ‘But when some institutions still do it anyway, it raises the question of whether these are the kind of people the established business world wants to support.’ Typically, banks' business with motorcycle gangs occurs through mortgages on the property housing the gang’s headquarters through a direct loan to a gang member’s private business. According to the Berlingske Business study, many of gang members’ private businesses are linked to construction or IT firms. Police authorities say these private businesses are sometimes used as a cover to launder money earned through drug trafficking. Mikael Winkler, press officer for the Danish Bankers Association, would not comment to Berlingske Business on the practice of lending money to gang members and their private companies. |
Source: Bikers need not apply - Bank loans to gang businesses worry police
