The National Audit Office's report on the state's supervision to combat money laundering
Translated from Swedish by AI; the translation may contain errors. The Swedish text is the original.
Summary AI, written in advance
The debate concerns the Swedish National Audit Office's report on the state's supervision to counter money laundering. M believes that the government is now seriously turning over every stone within crime policy and that the measures taken, such as coordination within the Government Offices and stricter requirements for currency exchange offices, satisfy the National Audit Office's recommendations 1. M also argues that the review primarily concerns the previous mandate period 1. S believes that the National Audit Office's criticism of the government's weak governance and lack of a unified strategy must be taken seriously 2. S demands more far-reaching interventions, a review of industries with high crime rates, as well as the reintroduction of the audit obligation for more limited companies 2.
Written by AI in advance and may contain errors. The numbers lead to the speech a statement builds on; check against the text below.
Jan Ericson (M)
Madam Speaker! I want to begin by explaining to the people what this is actually about. In Sweden, we have a National Audit Office that audits various parts of the state administration and our authorities. When it has completed its audit, an audit report is produced, and this audit report then gives the government the opportunity to comment and state how it views the criticism and observations from the National Audit Office.
As chairman of the Riksdag's council for the Swedish National Audit Office, I believe that an extremely important part of our administration is precisely that the Swedish National Audit Office submits this report and directs criticism toward what it considers not to be functioning and provides constructive suggestions for improvements.
Today, we will therefore debate such a report from the Swedish National Audit Office, and this time it is about how the state works to counteract money laundering.
The fight against economic crime, gang crime, the threat of terrorism, and corruption is one of the moderate-led government's absolute most important priorities.
This was a very neglected area when we took office in 2022, which the National Audit Office's review confirms. Much within this policy area should have been done earlier – several parliamentary terms ago.
Crime in which the financial system is exploited or misused for criminal activity is often linked to other crimes. Measures against money laundering are central to strangling the criminal economy.
In the Swedish National Audit Office's report, a number of proposals for measures are presented. In the government's communication, the government states that it shares the Swedish National Audit Office's assessments in all material respects, and then a number of measures that have been taken since the government took office in the autumn of 2022 are listed.
Among the measures addressed in the government's report, some can be mentioned. It is noted, among other things, that very many different actors are working against money laundering. The government wants to try to coordinate these measures in a better way. This is done through a special management within the Government Offices. In addition, the Finansinspektionen has been tasked with developing the money laundering supervision, and stricter requirements are introduced for currency exchangers and the supervision of such is tightened.
The Government has, in the regulatory letter, given a specific assignment to Bolagsverket to propose measures to prevent crime and counteract the registration of incorrect information in their registers.
Furthermore, a new ordinance is being developed to mandate the Police Authority to coordinate practical measures against money laundering so that different authorities can be coordinated in the work. This applies to both money laundering and the financing of terrorism.
Furthermore, the Riksdag decided yesterday to make a number of authorities as well as municipalities, regions, and schools obliged to provide information to the Swedish Police Authority and other law enforcement agencies, both upon request and on their own initiative. Additionally, the confidentiality barriers between authorities are now being broken to combat crime more effectively. This is not specifically targeted at money laundering, but it may have significance in the fight against this crime.
With the measures the government reports and the decisions that have been taken, it is considered that the recommendations presented by the Swedish National Audit Office are being met.
Madam Speaker! The Social Democrats' motion feels a bit bewildered. In it, it is stated that the National Audit Office presents harsh criticism of the government. That is entirely correct, but perhaps it should be pointed out that the National Audit Office's audit essentially concerns the last mandate period with a Social Democratic government. The audit concerns the period from 2018 up to 2022–2023. The person who stands as the first name among those who signed the motion is Mikael Damberg, who was Finance Minister during parts of the period under review and who was responsible for these issues. Before him, the Finance Minister was Magdalena Andersson. One becomes a bit curious about the degree of self-criticism that exists among the Social Democrats, since they now think that one must take these issues very seriously, which the government otherwise does.
Madam Speaker! We now finally have a government that is seriously turning over every stone within the crime policy and is making rows of decisions and allocating resources to turn this around. We make decisions in the Riksdag almost every week related to crime policy, and much more is coming. It concerns measures against both money laundering and all other types of crime. It is important and necessary to protect the taxpayers' money and create security in society.
I vote in favor of the proposal in the committee report and against the motions.
Björn Wiechel (S)
Madam Speaker! It is difficult to know exactly how extensive money laundering in Sweden is. Calculations exist, and they indicate 100–150 billion kronor per year. But the dark figure is striking. We can at least state that it is a very large societal problem.
Money laundering is carried out by criminals so that their crime profits can be used in the regular economy. It is an integrated part of organized crime. The activity is broad. Criminal gangs run companies that trade in illegal goods and services. They cheat their way into contracts, break laws and regulations, dump wages and conditions, undermine serious entrepreneurs, exploit employees, profit from the vulnerable and engage in human trafficking. They use threats, extortion and violence. They spread fear, corrupt and parasitize on society.
Madam Speaker! We Social Democrats believe that one needs to see the entire chain and attack all its parts. Gross organized crime must be met with harsher penalties, police interventions, and new methods. During our time in government, we initiated a major offensive in this area.
We must also look at its breeding ground. We must combat the lawlessness among parts of the business community, prevent new ones from being recruited and drawn in, safeguard people's conditions and increase safety in everyday life.
Thus, it is crucial that we reach the tops, those at the very top of the hierarchy, who bring in the big money. That is why we have repeatedly raised the need to get mafia legislation in place. We will continue to raise it, because such legislation is needed. It is required that we stop the crime all the way through.
Madam Speaker! The work against money laundering is a part of this. Therefore, it is both welcome and important that the National Audit Office has now audited the government's efforts for supervision in the area. The audit is a tool for us in politics to evaluate and improve, which Member Ericson also described in his speech.
In its audit, the Swedish National Audit Office issues criticism against the government, in parts stinging and grave criticism. The Swedish National Audit Office writes, among other things, that the government's governance of the system for anti-money laundering supervision is weak. The government has not developed any unified strategy or any goal for the supervision. The government exercises no clear governance of the authorities' anti-money laundering supervision. The government lacks a systematic and unified follow-up of the state's anti-money laundering supervision.
This must, of course, be taken seriously. The government is also writing a response where they present measures in light of the criticism. And there is nothing wrong with the measures themselves, but what creates difficulty is the proportions of the measures, in relation to both the criticism that the National Audit Office provides and how large this societal problem is. This requires more, far-reaching interventions. And it calls for, not least, which is important, that the policy has an attitude that is forward-looking and proactive.
The Social Democrats have therefore submitted a motion as a result of this, with several new proposals and demands for improvements.
Firstly, it is about the government implementing the proposals that the Swedish National Audit Office has presented regarding the Government Offices' work, and that the government shall review its governance of relevant authorities that combat money laundering, such as the Swedish Companies Registration Office, the Financial Supervisory Authority, and the County Administrative Boards.
Furthermore, the government should conduct a review of the industries where economic crime and money laundering are particularly prominent.
Furthermore, we want the government to conduct an evaluation of its work with money laundering and return to the Riksdag with a presentation. A holistic analysis and improvement work are necessary.
In addition to this, we have a number of proposals for further measures. We want to reintroduce the audit requirement for more limited companies, set higher requirements for personal appearance, raise the requirement for minimum share capital, and review whether more crimes should lead to a business ban. We present a battery of things that can take the fight against money laundering further – new approaches and bigger measures.
Madam Speaker! The work of combating money laundering is an important part of the fight against organized crime. It requires that we keep pushing forward, all the time, to succeed in outsmarting the criminals – so that we can have a prosperous, open, free, and just society.
The Swedish National Audit Office's report on the state's supervision to counter money laundering
I therefore support the Social Democrats' motion and move for approval of our reservation 1.
The deliberation was hereby concluded.
Source: The Swedish Parliament. The speeches come from the open data of the Riksdag, translated into English by AI, which may contain errors.