The Ombudsman directs serious criticism at Anna Kinberg Batra.
This is established after reviewing three so-called friend recruitments – one of which the JO considers that she was a badass.
– The governor’s actions testify to nonchalance and a lack of respect for the basic regulations that exist to maintain public trust in public activities, says JO Per Lennerbrant in a press release.
Stockholm’s governor Anna Kinberg Batra has been under scrutiny since last spring after Aftonbladet’s and TV4 Nyhetern’s revelations that she recruited several friends to top jobs at the County Administrative Board.
The hires led to a report to the Ombudsman for Justice, JO, who specifically examined three recruitments to investigate possible irregularities.
After several months of investigation, JO has now decided to direct serious criticism against Anna Kinberg Batra’s recruitments.
– The investigation shows that in two cases the governor already decided in advance who would be hired and that in the third she chose to ignore a set merit requirement in order to hire the candidate she preferred. Her actions have led to all three procedures failing in terms of facts, says JO Per Lennerbrant in a press release.
Recognized relationships
Anna Kinberg Batra has previously admitted that she had a personal relationship with two of the three recruitments that were reviewed; planning manager Anna Borgs and organizational developer Gunnar Ekman.
Among other things, Batra has admitted that she is the godmother of Anna Borg’s children.
“We got to know each other when we were active in the Moderata Ungdomsförbundet in Stockholm County during the 1990s, but have not previously worked together. It is true that I am the godmother of one of her children, however, we have not been very close or frequent in recent years,” she wrote in a response to JO this summer.
She has also admitted that she had Gunnar Ekman as a teacher at the School of Economics and that she helped him with a book publication in 2003.
However, she denies a private connection to the third recruitment; planning manager, organizational developer and emergency manager Mikael Jeppson. He also denies it.