During the autumn, SVT conducted a major review of companies, sites and people who can be linked to suspected investment frauds in the multi-million range in Sweden and Germany, among other places, where small savers were lured to invest money in unknown companies.
The review has shown links to a construction investment where cheap, quickly assembled modular houses will provide housing for new workers when the Norrland industry expands.
The leading figure in the investment has been the businessman and former labor market minister Sven Otto Littorin, chairman of the board of the company Landskapsbyggen, which manages and rents out the apartments. His business partner Johan Blumenthal is CEO of both Landskapsbyggen and the company that builds, Nordic Unit.
The venture has been fraught with problems and lawsuits – including after a large authority raid in February where they found security flaws and a subcontractor with a business ban.
Was charged
One of the builders was found to lack a work permit, which led to both Nordic Unit and Johan Blumenthal being prosecuted for violating the Aliens Act.
In August, the company was sentenced to a fine in the district court, but the CEO was released from personal responsibility. The worker had produced a document which Blumenthal took to be proof that he was an EU citizen – when in fact it showed he was a citizen of a non-EU country.
The prosecutor appealed and is now in the right in the Court of Appeal for Upper Norrland, which considers that the CEO acted negligently by “not having checked the citizenship with sufficient care”. Johan Blumenthal is sentenced to pay 30 daily fines of SEK 500 and his own legal fees.
Reflects the criticism
SVT is looking for Blumenthal who denied the crime. He has previously stated to SVT that the safety deficiencies during the construction have been remedied and the collaboration with the subcontractor with a business ban has ended. He has also rejected criticism of the building from tenants.
Sven Otto Littorin has emphasized that he has no involvement in the construction company Nordic Unit.