The Ålfishing scandal puts pressure on Sweden’s prime minister
ISTANBUL
Sweden’s Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson is facing increasing pressure over a new controversy over eel fishing.
Kristersson is drawing flak for hiring Peter Magnus Nilsson as a key adviser, a former journalist who was found guilty of illegal eel fishing and lied to the police about it.
Nilsson was hired in October last year, a year after he was arrested in a raid by the Maritime and Water Authority.
Kristersson has admitted he knew Nilsson broke the law but said his behavior was “stupid” and not something that made him unfit for duty, according to a BBC report.
However, the Social Democrats in the opposition stand firm in demanding Nilsson’s resignation and say that he “actively misled the police as recently as December”.
“The government claims to prioritize law and order… so it is extremely surprising that the prime minister’s state secretary has misled the police in an interrogation,” says Ardalan Shekarabi, party spokesperson, to Dagens Nyheter.
“Didn’t think clearly”
Since 2007, eel fishing has been banned in Sweden for all but a small number of licensed fishermen due to its endangered status.
In a recent Facebook post, Nilsson said he lied to authorities because he thought the situation was so “embarrassing.”
When police contacted him later, Nilsson, a former editor at the Swedish financial newspaper Dagens Industri, said he lied again because he “didn’t think clearly”.
Nilsson said he later contacted police to confess and accepted a fine of about 38,000 Swedish kronor ($3,730).