Sweden’s 31,000 crore covid aid fund to help terrorist sympathizers, neo-Nazis: Report
Widespread misuse of covid-19 agents from the Swedish Agency for Economic and Regional Growth has been discovered in a joint investigation conducted by the newspapers Expressen and Acta Publica. The Swedish government’s rescue package of 4.2 billion dollars (approximately 31,547 crore Rs) to help companies during the pandemic has been hailed as the single largest investment in Swedish history, Sputnik reported.
Subsequent investigations have, however, revealed several cases of the aid that ended up in the wrong and potentially dangerous hands. Sputnik reported that according to the investigation, terrorist financiers, neo-Nazis, Islamists and motorcycle gangs, among others, have received hundreds of thousands of kronor in government funding.
Over 150 entrepreneurs linked to organized crime
In addition, there are about 150 entrepreneurs who can be linked to organized crime or criminal gangs in various ways, according to the report. The government’s covid-19 support package of SEK 38 billion ($ 4.2 billion) to alleviate the economic crisis during the pandemic has been hailed as the single largest investment in Swedish history.
A total of 76,000 companies have received state support, with industrial titans such as Scania, Volvo Cars and SAS airlines among the largest. Sweden has previously faced external and internal criticism for its failure to crack down on organized crime, including ethnic gangs, and for its overly lax treatment of returning jihadists, of whom only a handful have been prosecuted.
Several entrepreneurs have Islamist ties
In addition, a dozen of the entrepreneurs in the review have Islamist ties. A man in his 40s in Skne County, whom the Security Police (Säpo) described as being in contact with violent Islamist groups in Sweden and providing support to a terrorist organization in Syria, received more than SEK 300,000 in the short term. Support. In Gothenburg, a 30-year-old entrepreneur who was identified by the police as a returnee from Syria received approximately SEK 140,000 (USD 15,500). Sputnik reported. Reports indicate that his brother was killed in the Daesh caliphate in Iraq in 2016.
Another entrepreneur in his forties on Sweden’s West Coast who, according to the police, rented out his apartment as a meeting place for an Islamist network, sits as a deputy on the board of a taxi company that has been granted more than SEK 300,000. A special case concerns an exchange office in Stockholm that the police suspect used to launder hundreds of millions of kronor in drug money. During the police raid, more than ten million kronor (approximately 1 million dollars) in cash was discovered on the premises.
Motorcycle gangs receiving covid aids
According to the joint investigation, motorcycle gangs such as Bandidos and Hells Angels also receive aids. Finally, the list of entrepreneurs includes individuals associated with extremism, such as neo-Nazi organizations such as the Nordic Resistance Movement (NMR).
According to Niklas Kjellberg, press manager at the Swedish Agency for Economic and Regional Growth, the authority carries out all necessary checks for which it has legal support. “We check whether the representatives of the companies have a business ban or whether the companies have tax debts. We can not control other types of connections to different activities with the legal space we have today “, said Kjellberg Expressen. Another perennial issue that has previously caused concern is the provision of state funds to terrorist sympathizers in Sweden due to lack of control.