Swedish Central Criminal Police chief Mats Löfving and intelligence chief Linda Staaf had an intimate relationship. Among other things, Löfving gave Staaf a considerable salary increase.
The romance of the Swedish police chiefs led to criminal reports and suspicions of cold-blooded decisions.
Chief of the Central Criminal Police Mats Löfvingin and intelligence chief Linda Staafin the relationship and its effects have been discussed in the Swedish media for months. Both have been transferred to other positions.
An investigator outside the police organization has reviewed the events. Investigator, lawyer Runar Viksten introduced its conclusion (you switch to another service) in the morning and stated that Löfving made four remaining decisions regarding Linda Staaf.
According to Viksten, this makes Löfving incompetent as chief, and therefore he recommends the Swedish police chief Anders Thornberg to consider firing Löfving.
Thornberg held the expected press conference in the afternoon, but did not tell (you switch to another service) a clear decision about Löfving’s future. He said that he intends to go through Viksten’s report and its conclusions.
– I am going to have an employment law discussion with Mats Löfving, Thornberg said at the press conference.
Suspicions of violence in the background
The skein started to unravel (you switch to another service), when Mats Löfving’s colleagues filed two criminal reports against him. Neither led to legal action.
In the first criminal complaint from 2020, Löfving was suspected of assaulting Linda Staaf, and in the second from 2021, of deprivation of liberty, illegal persecution and harassment of Staaf.
Löfving and Staaf had then had a relationship that lasted several years. Staaf himself has said publicly that he does not feel that he was a victim of a crime.
– The roots of the criminal reports go back to a lunch meeting between two police chiefs. Another says at the time that “I have heard from Linda that Mats has hit her and been mean to her”. The other is of the opinion that a criminal report should be filed, Viksten said when presenting his report.
– Then the chief who originally reported the information says that “I must have been mistaken, Linda didn’t say that it was a beating, I don’t want to claim that”.
The prosecutor considered that the criminal reports did not give grounds for prosecution.
Four remaining decisions
However, Viksten states in his report that over the years Löfving had made several drastic decisions regarding Staaf.
They concerned Löfving’s considerable salary increase for Staaf and decisions to extend Staaf’s chieftainship, grant him a permit to carry weapons, and grant him permission to write novels alongside his chieftainship.