Sources: Danish Prime Minister must hand over her smart devices (phones and iPad) to the police

The issue of killing all mink in Denmark last year received considerable attention in Danish political and media circles, when Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen ordered the killing of all mink in Denmark, following outbreaks of the coronavirus, according to statements at the time.

A committee was formed by the Danish parliament to investigate the events leading up to the press conference on November 4th of last year, when Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen ordered the culling of all mink in Denmark. The mink pelt trade was a significant contributor to the Danish economy.

As a procedure for the investigations in the case, the Ministry of Justice, in agreement with the Prime Minister's office, will hand over Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen's devices – such as mobile phones or iPads – to the police, to explore the possibility of recovering deleted text messages related to the mink case, according to the ministry's written response to a question from TV2, as reported on the channel's website.

According to the Mink Committee, the settings on devices belonging to the Ministry of Justice and the Prime Minister's Office were configured to automatically delete all text messages after 30 days, including those on Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen's device. However, it remains unclear whether the Prime Minister's phone is among those being investigated by the police.

The absence of text messages from the Prime Minister's office played a key role in the initial questioning by the Mink Committee, hindering the process of reaching a clear conclusion due to the deletion of messages from the phones of four people working in the Prime Minister's office, headed by the Prime Minister.

In addition to the Prime Minister, the list includes Minister Barbara Bertelsen, Chief of Staff Martin Justsen and Chancellor Bille Pappe.
While the automatic message deletion feature after 30 days was not activated on the devices of Justice Minister Nick Hækkerup and his chief of staff Johan Christian Liegart.

The Justice Department stated last week that it would ask the police for help in recovering the deleted text messages, and a response from police technicians is expected by the end of next week.

Source: TV2