Erik Ninn-Hansen

Who is Erik Ninn-Hansen?

Erik Ninn-Hansen is a Danish politician. He served in the Cabinet of Hilmar Baunsgaard, first as Defence Minister, and later as Finance Minister. In the early 1970s he became leader of the Conservative People's Party, but without much success, as the party slumped to its worst-ever results in the 1973 and 1975 elections.

In the 1980s cabinets of Poul Schlüter, Ninn-Hansen served as Justice Minister. It was from this position that he abused the powers vested in him by illegally stalling family reunion applications from relatives to Tamil refugees, known as the Tamil Case. When the story broke in 1989, Ninn-Hansen was forced to resign as cabinet minister. He served as Speaker of Parliament, but as the scope of the scandal increased, he was forced to resign this office as well. An independent inquiry headed by a Supreme Court Judge was set up to investigate the affair in the late 1980s. The resulting report of this committee led to the resignation of the Conservative-Liberal government in 1993.

Later that year, Erik Ninn-Hansen became the first person since 1910 to be impeached for high crimes and misdemeanours committed as a cabinet minister. In 1995 he was convicted on three charges of abuse of power, and was given a four months suspended prison sentence. The most important task in the impeachment process had been to establish responsibility for the affair. Ninn-Hansen's advanced age and poor health weighed against a full prison term.