51 Jørgen Steen Sørensen Parliamentary Ombudsman In his Annual Report for 2009, pages 9-15, the Ombudsman at the time, Hans Gammeltoft-Hansen, considered the issue of the Ombudsman’s role in cases with a political aspect. Gammeltoft-Hansen summarised his analysis as follows: ‘a) The Ombudsman must not avoid taking up a case for investigation merely because it (also) contains political substance. b) In ‘mixed’ cases, which include both political and legal aspects, the Ombudsman must limit his investigation to the legal aspects of the case. c) The Ombudsman must refrain completely from investigating a case if Parliament expresses an opinion on the case.’ I completely agree with this analysis. It also expresses the course which successive Ombudsmen have basically followed throughout the history of the institution. However, in a complex case it can sometimes be difficult to determine the exact boundaries between legal and political aspects. The most widely publicised Ombudsman case in 2012 is a good illustration of the problem. It was the case concerning Member of Parliament Henrik Sass Larsen and his complaint about the Prime Minister’s Office, the Ministry of Justice and the Security and Intelligence Service (PET) 1. After the general election in September 2011, it was generally assumed that Henrik Sass Larsen would get a prominent ministerial post. At that time, he was political spokesman for the Social Democratic Party. 1 Annual Report of the Parliamentary Ombudsman, 2012, Case No. 2012-13