The Minister of Justice in conversation with the former municipal top
Published 06.20
Justice Minister Gunnar Strömmer and former S-toppen Ebba Östlin join hands to stop infiltration by political parties.
The background is, among other things, the Botkyrka scandal.
– It is perhaps one of our most spectacular examples of criminal infiltration, says Strömmer.
The government has today decided to appoint an “infiltration commission” to stop the infiltration of criminals in municipalities, regions and business. The commission will be led by former Säpo head Klas Friberg. Part of his mission will be to “do a review of the suspected irregularities in Penitential Church municipality and other similar cases”.
Gunnar Strommer says that the ABF farms in Botkyrka became a recruitment platform for gang crime that also found its way into The Social Democrats.
– When Ebba and the political leadership stepped in against these leisure farms, it obviously turned upside down internally in the Social Democrats, then it also became a question of how the parties deal with criminal infiltration, he says (M).
It is important to be able to talk about it in the election campaign as well
The two political opponents meet in Almedalen and agree that more must be done to address the problems. Gunnar Strömmer has been in contact with Östlin to hear her view of what happened. He points out, however, that it is not only S that is affected – the Moderates and the Christian Democrats have also been locally infiltrated by criminals.
He denies that it would be a way to bring the S scandal to light before the election.
– It is clear that parties in an election campaign highlight things that have to do with each other. Now I still want to say that it wasn’t me who raised this story, but “Kaliber”, says Strömmer.
He adds that a research report released earlier this year showed that the problem is widespread and that the government has been working on the issue for a long time.
– In this matter, I think it is important, even if it is an election campaign, to be able to talk about it, says Ebba Östlin.
Considers that the party was infiltrated
Before the Kaliber documentary, Östlin has been sparing with participating in interviews. Today, she is critical of how the party handled the matter. Östlin’s image is that criminals infiltrated the Social Democrats – contrary to what the party leadership claims.
– I attended the meetings. I saw one of the men who is in Kaliber’s review. He is convicted and has had a stay ban in the center of Alby because he has such a large criminal influence in that place. He has a position of power and a large capital of violence. He was a member of the party but he had no social democratic agenda.
Östlin also does not believe that S went through all the membership lists carefully enough to ensure that no criminals were included. A work that she believes is relevant even today.
Unclear privacy
Gunnar Strömmer hopes that the commission will lead to politicians like Östlin getting better tools to be able to approach the problems. Something that Östlin is also asking for.
– I would have liked it to have been easier to get a picture of the situation that could also be shared with more people, about what it looked like, for example. It was unclear what secrecy I obeyed based on my mission. When it comes to gang crime, it’s always about money. Just because I disappeared, that agenda did not disappear from those who had become members of the Social Democracy, says Östlin.
