Another state secretary in the government is suspected of violating the beach protection.
Tobias Baudin, party secretary for the Social Democrats, questions Ulf Kristersson’s ability to recruit for heavy posts.
– He must get help so that it cannot happen again in the future.
On Christmas Day, Aftonbladet was able to reveal that cabinet secretary Jan Knutsson built a jetty at his summer house without permission.
An investigation is underway and the County Administrative Board in Södermanland is considering reporting to the police.
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Jan Knutsson’s pier – built without any permits whatsoever.
1 / 2Photo: Jerker Ivarsson
Jan Knutsson is Cabinet Secretary at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Foreign Minister Tobias Billström’s closest man.
He is the second state secretary in Ulf Kristersson’s government who is suspected of violating beach protection.
Kristersson’s state secretary Johan Jakobsson has previously received attention for his jetty in Stockholm’s archipelago.
At the beginning of the year, Kristersson’s then state secretary PM Nilsson resigned. This after it emerged that he had been convicted of poaching eels in the Karlskrona archipelago.
– You can almost think that it is difficult to keep from laughing. This is the third time the prime minister has failed to recruit his closest employees, says Tobias Baudin, party secretary for the Social Democrats.
– But you also get worried, because Sweden is in a vulnerable position. We need to start questioning the Prime Minister’s ability to recruit Secretaries of State who do not have a history of breaking the laws made by politicians.
“What else is in the luggage?”
Baudin says that Ulf Kristersson must be clear about what he has known about, and tell how the recruitment of his state secretary went.
– If he knew about it, then we have to ask the question, why do ordinary people have to follow laws that the government’s heaviest employees can break? If it has not been revealed, what background analyzes are carried out?
– What else can be in the luggage when such obvious things can slip by?
“S does not have a good track record”
Aftonbladet has asked Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson for a comment.
His press secretary Susanna Silverskiöld writes in a text message that the Social Democrats should “be low on the question of the suitability of state secretaries”.
“Stefan Löfven’s state secretary had to resign after the kingdom’s security was compromised during the Swedish Transport Agency scandal, when classified information was revealed to a foreign power. That person then assessed Magdalena Andersson as suitable to appoint as his own state secretary with responsibility for Sweden’s crisis preparedness”.
“Baudin should look himself in the mirror, his party does not have a good track record in this regard. Both Knutsson and Jakobsson have acted according to what they thought was right in terms of a pier.”
“Kristersson sends press secretary”
Tobias Baudin says that he “obviously realizes that things can happen”.
– Now, in a very short time, a year, three state secretaries who worked closely with the prime minister have gone completely wrong.
How do you do when you recruit?
– Very heavy background checks and interviews are carried out in a very rigorous manner. But here we are also talking about cabinet secretary, one of Sweden’s most weighty political roles. If there is more to tell, Kristersson should do it rather than a media having to expose state secretaries on the fly.
– Since he sends a press secretary, he has to think it through himself.