Response to interpellation 2024/25:276 on the future of the Economic Crime Authority

Justitieministern Gunnar Strömmer (M)

Mr. Speaker! I have been asked if I can reassure the employees of the Economic Crime Authority by stating that the investigation into a review of the authority aims to develop the important work in the fight against serious organized crime and not to dismantle it.

The government has made it one of its most important tasks to push back organized crime and restore safety in Sweden. It concerns three parts: to strike against gross violence, to strangle the criminal economy, and to break the recruitment of children and young people into the gangs.

We know that behind the gross violence hides a very extensive criminal economy. According to the police, it has grown over many years, to a turnover that today amounts to a staggering 100-150 billion kronor every year.

We also know that economic gain is one of the most important drivers for organized crime. By striking specifically at the opportunities to enrich oneself economically through crime, we as a society can make criminal careers less attractive and also counteract the use of crime profits to build up even stronger and more well-organized criminal activities.

The Economic Crime Authority's mission is clear: to combat economic crime and to limit the profits from criminal activity. The authority's work includes crime prevention, intelligence operations, as well as investigation and prosecution. Through its expertise, the Economic Crime Authority has a central role in the joint work between authorities against organized crime.

Since the last review of the Economic Crime Authority's operations was conducted, there have been major changes regarding society's challenges in keeping pace with organized economic crime. It has become crystal clear that the criminal economy is crucial for the survival of crime. Furthermore, the operations have been audited. The National Audit Office has audited it and concluded that there are opportunities to streamline the work against economic crime, for example through other organizational solutions. These are views that the Riksdag has also backed.

This is the background to the investigation assignment that we are discussing today. The Government has tasked an investigator to analyze and evaluate the Economic Crime Authority's mandate and structure without any preconceived notions. The purpose of the investigation is to improve and streamline the work against economic crime. The Government has not bound the investigator to any specific conclusion. It is therefore the investigator's task to independently take a position on how the work against economic crime can be conducted in the best possible way.

When the investigation has presented its conclusions and the referral bodies have eventually given their input, the government will take a position on whether the investigation's proposals, whatever they may be, should be implemented and, if so, in what way.

For me, the starting point is that if we are to succeed in pushing back organized crime, we must strangle the criminal economy. In that work, we can neither afford to lower the level of ambition nor to slow down the pace. The direction is thus crystal clear: It is full speed ahead that matters in the work against the criminal economy.

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Lars Isacsson (S)

Mr. Speaker! I thank Minister of Justice Gunnar Strömmer for the answer.

I completely agree with the prioritization of strangling the criminal economy. That is also why I have submitted this interpellation. I want to highlight the concern and the challenges that the Economic Crime Authority and its employees face in light of the media reports circulating about a possible closure. It is hardly surprising that 670 employees at the Economic Crime Authority feel a deep concern when such signals are spread, regardless of how "precondition-free" the investigation may be.

We know that economic crime constitutes a foundation for organized crime. It turns over, as the Minister mentioned, up to 150 billion per year. The Committee on Industry had an open hearing on criminal economy before Christmas where, among others, Noa, the Economic Crime Authority, and Svenskt Näringsliv were present. Even then, the figure of 150 billion was mentioned by both the academy and the authorities. Svenskt Näringsliv also pointed out that on top of that, there are 100 billion in costs and reduced profits for the Swedish business community. Perhaps it is therefore even more money that disappears.

It is not just about money, but also about power, social impact, and an erosion of our welfare. If the government is so determined to strike back against serious crime, I wonder why the signals to the Economic Crime Authority are not clearer. The Minister for Justice highlighted the importance of streamlining the work against economic crime. But to leave the question of the Economic Crime Authority's future in limbo, now also with an extended investigation period, risks demoralizing those who already work at the authority. We have seen that employees are starting to seek employment elsewhere, which risks leading to a loss of competence that we cannot afford. We also risk losing momentum.

Mr. Speaker! My question to the Minister is: Can the government, in addition to awaiting the investigation, clearly declare that the Economic Crime Authority is not only needed but shall be developed?

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Justitieministern Gunnar Strömmer (M)

Mr. Speaker! I thank Lars Isacsson for the opportunity to also discuss this very important issue today.

Let me first say that the 670 employees at the Swedish Economic Crime Authority are doing an outstandingly good job. They are dedicated and work on a daily basis with one of our society's most critical and pressing tasks, namely to choke the criminal economy. They do it in an innovative and often very effective way.

An expression of the importance of the work is that the government has now appointed a new director-general for the agency who has an extraordinary ability and strength to lead the agency forward in a time of great external pressure depending on how economic crime has developed, and also in a stage where the agency is very much the subject of an investigation concerning how the fight against economic crime can be developed and strengthened.

I understand that such a move can create concern. But I want to be clear that the investigation mandate was not given in a vacuum, but rather we gave it in light of the fact that the Swedish National Audit Office conducted a proper review and gave far-reaching recommendations on which issues need to be investigated thoroughly to strengthen the work against economic crime. These are conclusions that the Riksdag has also stood behind.

It is clearly stated in the directives to the investigation that it is unconditional to the extent that we do not want to bind a qualified investigator in advance to draw certain conclusions regarding how the work should be designed as we look forward. The assignment clearly includes submitting proposals for organizational changes also in a perspective where the Economic Crime Authority remains, but where the division of labor and processes between them and other authorities may need to be changed in different ways.

I conclude that the grip is necessary. It is necessary because reality demands it of us, given how economic crime has developed. The turnover of 100-150 billion is staggering. We cannot let any part of our crime-fighting remain shielded from change and development, and this applies not least in this area. While such a process is underway, I understand that questions may arise about where this will land.

I want to emphasize that the entire approach is that very important work is underway at the Swedish Economic Crime Authority. The purpose is to develop and strengthen the work against economic crime. The important issues that have been captured by the Swedish National Audit Office, which the Riksdag has stood behind, are thus included in the investigation mandate. But I do not intend to, and cannot, anticipate the investigator's work and the conclusions that will be delivered a few months later than planned, towards late spring or possibly for the summer. It is an extra period we gave precisely so that the investigator can get to the bottom of all the important issues and provide us with a good basis when we then look forward.

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Lars Isacsson (S)

Mr. Speaker! I thank the Minister for Justice for the answer.

I also want to clarify that I and the Social Democrats absolutely have nothing against agencies developing and that the recommendations of the Swedish National Audit Office are followed and that it is reviewed how one can become more efficient. Even the directives can be non-binding.

But what I am raising today are the media reports that have emerged regarding the closure, and it is a significantly longer step if it were to become a fact. They have already affected the work environment with a loss of competence, and that is why I have raised the issue.

Historically, we have seen that, for example, Al Capone in the USA was convicted by Eliot Ness who worked at the Department of the Treasury - not the police. Who is it that the Italian mafia fears? Yes, it is the Guardia di Finanza. An effective fight against economic crime is extremely important.

It is positive that the government has a clear direction in the fight against organized crime. But what is clear for the government may not be as clear for the employees of the Economic Crime Authority or for the general public.

I think the government has shown decisiveness in issues concerning shootings and drugs, but when it comes to economic crime, that which truly finances and enables the gangs' activities, I lack the same determination. While we wait, the Economic Crime Authority is losing employees and thus the ability to act.

We know that economic crime undermines our society in the form of tax evasion, fraud with welfare systems, and other economic crime. This means that resources that should have gone to schools, healthcare, and infrastructure instead end up in the pockets of criminals. The rumors in the media about considering a shutdown of one of the most important actors in the fight are not only dangerous but also send the wrong signals.

Mr. Speaker! I therefore pose the following question to the Minister for Justice: What is the government and the Minister doing to ensure that the Economic Crime Authority is not drained of competence while the investigation is ongoing?

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Justitieministern Gunnar Strömmer (M)

Mr. Speaker! I want to emphasize that no signal regarding what the investigation will result in has been sent from the government. That discussion has arisen due to information that the media has reported from the investigation itself.

If one looks at the mandate that the investigation has been given, it is clear that all components for developing today's operations with a maintained economic crime authority are there. This follows from the Swedish National Audit Office's review and the positions that the Riksdag has backed, while it has also been important for the government to otherwise let the investigator have an open-ended mandate to ensure that all important aspects of the issues are highlighted in an unbiased way. In this way, we can receive a qualified investigator's analysis of how we can best move the positions forward against economic crime. I understand that such an open-ended approach can create question marks and to some extent anxiety among employees in the current operation. It is, at the same time, unavoidable if one is to give such a mandate.

Now the assignment will run during the spring and then be reported on. Then the government shall account for the way forward.

An important way for the government to ensure that the authority receives the best possible conditions to conduct an efficient operation and develop it along the way in a time of change is to ensure that the authority has a really good management. I am very pleased with the recruitment we have succeeded in making with Rikard Jermsten, who is the Director General of the Swedish Economic Crime Authority. It is naturally a way to ensure that the important operation can also be conducted in an efficient and good way for all qualified employees in the authority in a time of change.

With joint forces, we shall ensure that we can move the positions forward against economic crime on various fronts. We are, moreover, doing several other important things. If I am to highlight one important change during this year, it is that a new financial intelligence center will be established with the Police Authority as the base. The purpose is to link together all the authorities that have roles in the fight against economic crime, also with, for example, actors in the private sector, the financial system and banks, in order to achieve increased system pressure, societal pressure, against economic crime.

An example of how that way of working is promising is the police's figures from last week that the crime profits from telephone fraud decreased by 40 percent during last year. New methods, new tools and new resources and an effective interaction with the banks, where the government has also stepped in in an appropriate way and, as it is now called, facilitated an interaction between authorities and the banks, have led to the banks moving their positions forward.

Let me mention one more major change, namely the new legislation on so-called independent forfeiture that came into place in November last year. It means that we move a large part of the fight from the criminal proceedings, which Lars Isacsson was touching upon, to the direct front with the proceeds of crime. There we have much more to give, and there much will happen moving forward.

All in all, it is incredibly important that we continue the fight against economic crime and stifle it with the same force as we combat gross violence.

The speech at riksdagen.se, in Swedish (opens in a new tab)

Lars Isacsson (S)

Mr. Speaker! Thank you, Minister of Justice, for this debate as well!

I am thinking about what the Minister for Justice brings up regarding a measure without any prerequisites. I understand it. But I also think that the government and the government's representatives sometimes comment on or reflect on investigations that have not yet been presented. Here, for example, we will soon be talking about prison places abroad.

I think this thing with a financial intelligence center is very good. It is a good measure. To that, I think one can add more things, if I dare to send along some tips. It concerns the licensing requirement for certain health centers, vaccination clinics, and HVB homes. I also think it would be good if it became easier to issue business prohibitions.

One should also review how many bank IDs it is reasonable for a person to need. Independent forfeiture is also very good. It is something that is highly appreciated by the Swedish Economic Crime Authority, where I have the privilege of sitting on the oversight board.

Mr. Speaker! I will venture to interpret a bit of what the Minister for Justice is saying. I agree that the appointment of the new Director General, Rikard Jermsten, is very good. It would therefore be to throw away competence if the agency were to be abolished. Not giving clear information creates uncertainty and risks undermining an agency that Sweden is dependent on.

Mr. Speaker! I want to conclude with a message that the Economic Crime Authority is needed more than ever. We need to strengthen and not weaken Sweden's ability to combat economic crime.

The speech at riksdagen.se, in Swedish (opens in a new tab)

Justitieministern Gunnar Strömmer (M)

Mr. Speaker! I would like to once again thank Lars Isacsson for the opportunity to discuss this important issue regarding economic crime today.

My message to the employees of the Economic Crime Authority is: You are seen. You are doing an extraordinarily important work. Today, your tasks and your mission are perhaps more important than ever.

One must see an investigative approach regarding the operations as an expression of that. It is such an urgent task that we must find ways to develop, strengthen, and advance the positions in the work against crime. I understand that it can create uncertainty or anxiety until such processes have landed. We have to live with that for a while longer. But when the investigation has presented its conclusions and when we have discussed it for a while, the government will give clear announcements regarding the way forward.

I note some of the tips or recommendations that Lars Isacsson sends along. I am very receptive to those. One thing is certain: If we do as we have done until now, it will go as it has gone until now. Unfortunately, this has resulted in a criminal economy that turns over 100-150 billion.

We must find ways to continue breaking patterns and find new fronts and methods of work. For my part, I believe that a large part of the solution to that challenge lies outside of traditional law enforcement with heavy, difficult criminal proceedings and rather in the direct activities straight against the crime profits and economic crime.

Let us return to this. For today, I say thank you for an important discussion.

The interpellations debate was hereby concluded.

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