A former employee of the Swedish Migration Agency is charged with gross misconduct – after issuing 66 work permits in one day. The suspected crimes must have been discovered almost three years ago and the man has subsequently been given a new job within the police in the West region.
The case officer was employed at the Migration Agency since 2014 and chose to resign in August 2021. A few days before the man quit, he made decisions about 66 illegal work permits in one and the same working day, despite his boss forbidding him to make that type of decision after serious quality defects found. Something that GP was the first to report on.
Since the Migration Agency lacks a clear motive for the case manager’s actions, the authority suspects that the man accepted bribes in order to then make a high number of decisions about work permits, but bribery is not something that the prosecutor will proceed with.
There was a suspicion. I want to remember that it was written off before I sent the case, says prosecutor Joakim Zander.
“Never had such a case”
In the preliminary investigation, it appears that the 66 decisions on work permits made during the same working day is an unreasonably high number.
I have never had such a case, says prosecutor Joakim Zander.
The permits applied to six different employers, a large part of them with construction companies in Gothenburg.
The man is charged with gross misconduct
The prosecutor believes that the crime should be seen as serious as the decisions lead to people being able to enter the EU or Sweden on incorrect grounds.
The suspect denies any crime and in police questioning he answers that he does not remember any of the decisions or the companies. SVT has been in contact with the man’s lawyer, who declined to comment.
Then got a job as a police officer
Today, the suspect works for the police in the West region – even though there is an ongoing criminal investigation against him.
I cannot comment on individual cases, but if it comes to our attention, it is something we include in our assessment documents, says Petter Markhede, head of the security department in police region West.
