Borås chef Amir Badeie claimed to have come up with a new method to produce vegetarian protein through mushroom cultivation. He got a PhD position at Borås University, presented new spectacular innovations and attracted a large number of investors to put money into his various companies.
Refused to appear for interviews
But Borås newspaper reporter Anders Egle revealed that it was all a sham and in September 2024, prosecutors filed charges against the chef.
Badeie himself has consistently refused to appear for interviews.
– We are still waiting for this man himself to give his version. He has not wanted to do it the times I have met him, says BT’s reporter Anders Egle.
Denies in police questioning
But TV4’s program Local Scandals has obtained the police’s interrogation of Badeie, where he gives his view on the accusations and criminal suspicions.
– The picture is skewed and there are a lot of untruths, says Amir Badeie in the police interrogation.
In the interrogation, he denies the accusations that he cheated investors out of money.
Police: The money that went into your account, what happened to it?
Badeie: Nothing I want to answer.
Police: Regarding the suspicion of aggravated fraud, do you want to admit or deny?
Badeie: Deny.
The police: What do you think of the claim that you grossly neglected your obligations in business activities and thus made yourself guilty of criminality according to the allegations, which are not minor. Would you oppose a food ban?
Badeie: Of course I object.
Built house in the archipelago
In the interrogation, the police ask questions about how Badeie financed the purchase of a plot of land and the construction of a house in the Bohuslän archipelago.
The police: That is the only concrete thing that has come out of this story. And you can see, among other things, that some money, for example from (name removed) of 300,000 kroner went to pay for the plot.
Badeie: There is a corresponding withdrawal from the company and more, recorded in detail.
Cold Facts has sought out Amir Badeie repeatedly for an interview. He writes in an email that he will make a statement, but only when everything has calmed down.
Badeie is charged with several counts of gross fraud. The trial is scheduled to start on January 22.