Greenlanders demand election

Greenland’s Home Rule coalition government is teetering after revelations that several MLAs used public funds for personal pleasure.

In June, Jens Napaatooq from the leading Siumut Party resigned as minister of housing after media reported he had racked up an expense account of over 400,000 Danish krøners ($80,000) from November 2004 to June, 2005.

Napaatooq used the money at nightclubs, eating out at expensive restaurants in Denmark, and he even bought booze at a go-go dance bar in Copenhagen. In an average day, he spent about 1,400 krøner ($325).

Now, an audit by Deloitte Touche, which was commissioned by Premier Hans Enoksen, shows Napaatooq wasn’t the only MLA to be freely spending public money. The auditors’ report says MLA Rasmus Frederiksen also spent more than 160,000 krøner ($35,000) from November to June on “frequent and expensive purchase of alcohol, often at very late hours.”

Fredikersen has since resigned.

The report has the opposition Atassut Party calling for an election and the recovery of money from the MLAs.

“You can’t use your public representation account to pay for amusements with your friends and family,” Augusta Salling, head of the Atassut Party, told the Danish daily newspaper, Politiken.

The auditors’ report also said four more MLAs could not account for all the expense money they had claimed.