All language subtitles for The Black Swan.s01e01.The Decoy

This programme contains
some strong language

SHE CHUCKLES

In an office building
in the capital of Denmark,

a secret meeting is taking place.

The agenda is, how to best make

heavily-contaminated
construction soil

disappear without a trace?

CARRIER BAG RUSTLES

The man is a serial-convicted felon

and a member of the notorious

outlaw biker gang Bandidos.

The woman is his legal counsellor -

or this is, at least,
what he has been led to believe,

but in fact, she is a mole,

trying to expose a criminal network,

on hidden camera.

PHONE LINE CONNECTS

Denmark is a country

where we trust each other.

We trust the authorities, we trust

that all Danes pay their taxes.

This is the cornerstone of

our welfare society. It allows us

to attend school for free,

receive hospital care free of charge

and collect our state pension
when the time comes.

This is the narrative
I grew up with.

It is reinforced by the fact that

Denmark has been named the least

corrupt country in the world

for the past six years.

But a while ago,
I was approached by a woman

who offered to take me through
the looking glass,

and now I see a Denmark
which is grim and dark.

A source of this nature
must be handled with care.

For ten years, she was
a business consultant

for large parts of the Danish

criminal underworld and, as such,

she was herself involved in fraud

and deception. This, of course,

affects her credibility.

Can she be trusted?

So first, we did our preliminary
background check.

She is a single mother,

a business law graduate, with

top marks, who once had an office at

a prestigious address in Copenhagen.

A former university lecturer.

And then,
there's the other side of her.

On her old phones and computers,
which she handed over to us,

we discover photos from
the tightly-sealed boardrooms

of several international
outlaw biker gangs,

like Satudarah and Hells Angels,

just to name a few.

These contrasts are extraordinary,

but that is, in fact,
her entire point,

the very core of the story
she wants to tell.

Amira's criminal background,
as well as

her remarkable willingness
to share it in public,

makes her an extremely interesting

source, a source that one will
most likely encounter

only once in a lifetime
as a journalist. However,

we cannot build a story
solely on her claims. We still

need proof of concept.

Is she really who she claims to be

and do criminals still trust her?

A good place to start
looking for outlaws in Denmark

is inside the so-called

Freetown Christiania,

an area in Copenhagen that hosts

the largest hashish market

in Northern Europe, known as

Pusher Street.

Through an intermediary,

Amira attempts to set up a meeting

with an old business associate,

with close ties to

the hashish market.

But as the meeting is to take place,

the intermediary, surprisingly,

arrives at the scene alone.

The intermediary - who, according
to Amira, is known as Wassem -

is, by the way, not Mr Nobody

in the criminal underworld.

He is a co-founder of
the street gang Brothas

and mingles with high-ranking
members of the ultra-violent

street gang NNV.

Furthermore, he has been convicted

of possession of firearms, after

the police discovered a gun -
with a silencer -

hidden in the basement
under his apartment.

So it's safe to say that Wassem is

connected also inside Christiania.

Rumour has it that a few years ago,

Amira was responsible for

the detonation of a hand grenade

targeting someone
who owed her money.

This could be the reason why the man
she was supposed to meet today

appears to have chickened out.

LOUD CLATTER, AMIRA GASPS

TAXI DOOR SLAMS

AMIRA SNIFFS

AMIRA SNIFFS

Amira meeting Wassem

did give us proof of concept. She
seems to be known amongst criminals

and feared as well. But we also
discovered how fast things can get

tense when covertly filming
hardened criminals.

But despite all the obvious risks,

Amira seems deeply motivated

to move ahead.

In order to play it safe,
we need to establish

a controlled environment - a safe
space, where Amira can meet with

her old network, and where we can
more easily intervene

if a dangerous situation
should arise.

So we decide, basically,
to reopen the office

that Amira managed for ten years.

But this time, the office

is plastered with microphones,

and behind the power sockets,

six cameras cover every corner,

recording around the clock.

The whole operation is supervised
by a team of journalists

from the Control Room.

They monitor every movement

and record all calls made through

Amira's phone.

PHONE RINGS

PHONE RINGS

KNOCK ON AMIRA'S DOOR

DOOR OPENS

Umar Abbas has reached out to Amira
with a small problem.

The authorities have discovered
that he transferred money

to himself from his own company

shortly before it went bankrupt.

AMIRA LAUGHS

It's funny to hear about Mr Abbas'

misuse of company funds, but still,

we are talking about petty crime.

The same goes for the next guest...

..an old acquaintance, who claims

she can manipulate people's debts,

so they end up owing less.

She's eager to start a
partnership with Amira.

Next in line is a man who admits

being involved in car thefts.

He needs help with

re-registering the stolen vehicles.

Despite a steady flow of customers

at the office, the catch so far

can still only be described
as small-fry,

far from the masterminds
and white-collar criminals

who are the target of our operation.

That is until an old
acquaintance of Amira

suddenly reaches out.

PHONE RINGS

Fasar Abrar Raja - for many years,

a card-carrying member of the outlaw

biker group Bandidos,

he is known as The Cat, because of

having nine lives, as well as

an uncanny capability to enter
a room without anyone noticing.

He is reputed to be trigger-happy
and is on friendly terms with

the European President of Bandidos.
Fasar has a resume

which is beyond belief.
He has been convicted of

assaulting a civil servant,

possession of firearms,

threatening a witness,

beating up a famous lawyer,

while shouting, "Hand me the knife,
I want to stab him,"

and to top it off, smuggling no less

than 160 kilos of amphetamine.

AMIRA LAUGHS

Soon, Fasar becomes a frequent
visitor at the office,

and Amira is made privy to
the strange world he inhabits.

For example, he has been given
early retirement benefits, due to

medical reasons, but is also
the head of a demolition company

which works for major
construction companies.

Fasar is a treasure trove
of secrets, constantly

spewing out information
in all directions.

We prick up our ears
when he begins talking about

a new business area he's entered -

the disposal of contaminated soil

from construction sites.

We sense the outline of something

that sounds like a business model

borrowed from the Italian Mafia,

infamous for illegally
disposing toxic waste.

This is exactly the kind of story

Amira's office was
set up to uncover.

The collusion between
respectable citizens

and members of
the criminal underworld.

For example, old-school criminals
like Fasar

working with well-respected

construction companies,

with billion-euro projects.

KNOCK ON DOOR

Ja?

Next time we encounter Fasar, he
brings along a biker friend of his -

the high-ranking Bandidos member

Jimmy Skjoldborg.

AMIRA LAUGHS

Jimmy Skjoldborg is a
so-called nomad biker,

travelling from chapter to
chapter to resolve issues.

He is part of the national
leadership of Bandidos

and holds one of the club's
highest honours,

the Expect No Mercy patch -
which, according to the police,

is awarded to bikers who have
committed violent crimes,

in the name of the club.

Specifically, what Jimmy has done

to earn this distinction is unknown.

We've been eager to discover

who exactly makes use of Fasar's

special services for getting rid of

contaminated soil.

The breakthrough comes when Fasar

introduces us to one of his

associates from
the construction industry.

The construction giant 1927 Estate

is behind a number of
multibillion projects.

Its CEO is a well-known member

of the City Council in Denmark's

second-largest city. And then,

there's Martin Odgaard -
a partner in the company,

currently engaged in
one of the firm's

major residential developments.

The soil beneath the construction
site was handled by Fasar.

HE LAUGHS

THEY LAUGH

The arrival of the next guest

marks a step deeper
into the grey zone.

Again, all thanks to the charismatic
outlaw biker Fasar,

who has generously
opened up his network.

Meet Martin Malm, a businessman
from the northern suburbs

of Copenhagen,
in charge of a widely-branched

consortium of eight companies,

involved in everything from cleaning

to accounting.

He is a man of refined taste,

with a craving for Japanese beef,

caviar and champagne.

He is beyond the cliche of a member

of the Danish upper class,

which makes you wonder if he is

a creature of fiction, but he is

for real.

SHE LAUGHS

Like many other modern criminals,

Martin Malm dabbles
in money laundering

through so-called invoice factories.

In short, he arranges
for fictitious invoices

to be sent to business owners,
who appear to be

outstanding members of society
at first sight,

apart from the fact that they do not
want to share their profits

with the Danish State.

The business owners
pay their invoices

and Martin Malm makes sure that
they get their money back

in cold cash, minus a fee,
shortly afterwards.

HE LAUGHS

KNOCK ON DOOR

AMIRA LAUGHS

AMIRA LAUGHS

THEY LAUGH

Amira and Martin Malm
seem to be kindred spirits,

and a friendship based on trust

and respect evolves.
During a visit to his office,

Amira exploits this trust to obtain

more details about Martin Malm's

Byzantine money-laundering
operation.

One is easily lost in translation

when Martin Malm speaks about his
intricate system for moving money

around, but that is the whole idea,
really - to obfuscate and confuse,

so the tax authorities and
the police will never discover

how, and why, the money
from the invoice factory

never reaches the state treasury.

HE LAUGHS

AMIRA LAUGHS

EXPLOSION, THEN GUNFIRE

SHE SNIFFS

As the saying goes,
"birds of a feather flock together"

and, soon, everything is connected,

because it turns out that Jimmy -

the Banditos biker who is Fasar's
driver - is also a regular visitor

at the offices of Martin Malm.

THEY LAUGH

Over the course of several meetings,

it becomes apparent that Jimmy
also has extensive knowledge

of Martin Malm's laundromat
and its clients.

Martin Malm continues to
read like an open book,

and does not try to conceal
that most of the inner workings

of his companies is basically
pure-and-simple fraud.

Amira is trying to get to
the bottom of the network

which revolves around
the industrious money launderer

Martin Malm. Who are the companies

using his services?

Fortunately, a new opportunity
arises, because

Martin Malm's bank has grown

suspicious about his activities.

Martin Malm's trouble with his bank

equals a golden opportunity
for Amira.

A friend in need is a friend indeed.

Most generously, Amira offers

to scrutinise Malm's entire company
structure and, in doing so, gets him

to deliver all the
hard-copy evidence we need.

Martin Malm is made to believe that

Amira is his guardian angel,

who will save him from Purgatory,

and the plan works splendidly.

Enormous amounts of documentation,

exposing the activities of
Martin Malm's invoice factory,

are literally brought to
Amira's office in boxes.

We are now able to single out
the many clients who have received

Martin Malm's fake invoices.

The list is extensive. It includes

everything from cleaning companies

and construction firms to some of

the most hyped nightclubs

in Copenhagen, frequented by

the rich and famous.

Malm's invoice operation
is a direct link

between the criminal underworld

and the respectable members of
Danish high society.

In the philosophy of science,

there is a concept known as

a Black Swan. It refers to
an unpredictable event

that occurs
suddenly and unexpectedly,

altering the way
we understand the world.

To me, meeting Amira feels like
such a watershed moment.

She has unlocked the gates

to the shadowy depths of

Danish society, and with each corner
we pass in this netherworld,

the image of picture-perfect Denmark

begins to crack and fall apart.