Sweden prosecutes Lundin Energy executives for complicity in war crimes in Sudan
Swedish prosecutors on Thursday brought charges against the chairman and former CEO of Lundin Energy for complicity in war crimes in Sudan between 1999 and 2003. “They are suspected of having been complicit in war crimes committed by the then Sudanese regime in order to secure the company’s oil operations in southern Sudan, the prosecutor’s office said in a statement.
Sweden-based Lundin Energy said in a separate statement that the accused managers were chairman Ian Lundin and former CEO Alex Schneiter, and that they reject all reasons for accusations of crime. The company, known as Lundin Oil until 2001, sold its Sudan operations in 2003.
Ian Lundin’s lawyer Torgny Wetterberg said on Thursday that his client was innocent: “The decision to prosecute is sensationally wrong. The prosecutor will never be able to reach convictions. The prosecution is deficient on all counts.” Schneiter’s lawyer was not immediately available for comment. Schneiter, who was CEO between 2015 and 2020, is now a board member.
The investigation was initiated in 2010 https://www.reuters.com/article/us-sweden-sudan-idUSTRE65K3KD20100621 and has been ongoing since then. The company said in 2016 https://www.reuters.com/article/ozabs-uk-lundinpetroleum-sudan-crime-idAFKCN12L1GS that prosecutors would interrogate Lundin and Schneiter as part of the investigation. In connection with the prosecution, prosecutors also raised a claim to confiscate SEK 1.39 billion ($ 161.66 million) from Lundin Energy, which corresponds to the profit of SEK 720 million that the company made on the sale of the business in 2003, the prosecutor’s office states.
Sudan waged war for decades in South Sudan, which became an independent state in 2011, and in other troubled parts of the country. Former Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir, who ruled from 1989 until he was overthrown in 2019 after street protests, is wanted by the International Criminal Court in The Hague for genocide and other war crimes, which he denies. ($ 1 = 8.5983 Swedish kronor)
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