The Christian Democrats’ top name in the upcoming European Parliament elections, David Lega, has been investigated by the European Anti-Fraud Office.
The investigation was closed earlier this year but must have been discussed in the process when KD’s EU election list was drawn up.
– There is concern in the party about this nomination, says a KD source.
On Tuesday, it was clear which top names for the European Parliament elections in 2024 that the Christian Democrats’ election committee has now nominated.
At the top of the list is David Lega, who has sat in the parliament in Brussels since 2019. Sara Skyttedal topped the list last election. She was offered this turn a second place, but declined.
– We have evaluated both the results in the membership vote and discussed in the nomination committee and we can state that David has very strong support in the party and Sara did not have it to the same extent, says nomination committee chairman Ingemar Kihlström.
The issue of Skyttedal is divisive
According to information to Aftonbladet, the committee did not agree that the top name should be David Lega instead of Sara Skyttedal. This is confirmed by Ingemar Kihlström, who however does not want to specify how the distribution within the committee looked.
A centrally placed person in the party tells Aftonbladet that it must have been very even when the decision was made that the first place would go to David Lega instead of Sara Skyttedal.
– We did not agree on all decisions about all places. We will not comment on the exact ratio for each location, says Ingemar Kihlström.
The top candidate was investigated for fraud
The selection process was guided by member votes on the candidates, but interviews with the candidates were also considered.
Sara Skyttedal is burdened by a previous move to legalize cannabis in Sweden, something that created major convulsions in the party and led to the resignation of a party secretary.
But even David Lega has baggage that can weigh him down and the Christian Democrats in the upcoming election campaign in 2024.
Aftonbladet can now tell you that David Lega was investigated by the European Anti-Fraud Office, “Olaf”, after reports of irregularities. According to information to Aftonbladet, it concerns the KD top’s handling of money from the EU that is to go to political work.
According to David Lega, the investigation against him has been closed since last spring.
– It was shut down quite a while ago. As soon as you receive a report, you have to investigate what did and did not happen, and they came to the conclusion quite quickly that I have not done anything wrong at all, says David Lega to Aftonbladet.
That you were investigated, how do you see it?
– That there must be an investigation every time someone has sent in a report, that’s right. It applies to everything and everyone. So it’s probably good to investigate that nothing has gone wrong. But it was also nice to get in black and white that I haven’t done anything wrong.
The investigation was dealt with in the nomination committee
Ingemar Kihlström confirms that the investigation has been weighed when David Lega was nominated for first place.
– We got into the skin of all the candidates we interviewed, regardless of whether it’s political or personal, he says.
– Everything we knew about, for all the candidates, we took up to get the candidates’ image and reasoning.
According to a high-ranking KD source, the poking of Sara Skyttedal and the elevation of David Lega to first place in the EU elections have created ripples in the party’s inner life.
– David is by no means an uncontroversial person in the party. There are questions about his leadership in Brussels, so there is concern in the party about this nomination, the source said.
KD’s list is determined by the party council on 13 October.
FACTS European Anti-Fraud Office – “Olaf”
OLAF investigates fraud against the EU budget, corruption and serious errors committed within the EU institutions and is responsible for the European Commission’s anti-fraud strategy.
Source: Olaf
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