Fact: Crime in the construction industry
Fair Play Bygg is a collaboration between Stockholm’s Byggmästareförening and Byggnads Stockholm-Gotland.
Last year, 184 tips were submitted to the authorities for further investigation. Some of them were submitted to several authorities and apply to several criminal classifications.
174 cases were handed over to the Tax Agency, 107 to the Ecocrime Authority, 78 to the Work Environment Agency and 16 to the police. They apply to the following suspicions:
112 cases of money laundering.
104 cases of tax crimes.
78 cases of work environment violations.
40 cases of violation of the Aliens Act.
13 cases of human trafficking.
10 cases of credit fraud.
9 cases of connection to criminal networks.
6 cases of accounting violations.
4 cases of unlawful threats.
3 cases of exploited identities.
1 case of bribery.
1 case of contribution violation.
Workplace crime is a big problem in Sweden. The Tax Agency estimates that over 90 billion is paid out in unpaid wages every year, and the construction industry has been singled out as a problem area.
Since 2016, tips to Fair Play Bygg, an industry collaboration in Stockholm for fairer competition, have led to 163 companies in the capital area being overvalued by over SEK 118 million.
Last year, the tip service received 291 tips about suspected crime, of which 184 were passed on to the authorities.
Foreign workforce
The suspicions include money laundering, tax crimes and human trafficking.
According to Kristin Andersson, CEO of Stockholm’s Byggmästareförening, cheating is dominated by undeclared work performed by foreign labor with hourly wages as low as ten kroner.
“The report shows an increase in organized economic crime, which often leads to people being exploited and serious companies that do the right thing being out-competed,” she says.
Last year’s figures are significantly lower than in 2021, when 440 tips came in and 249 were passed on to the authorities.
Dark numbers
— The decline may be due to less mobility in Europe due to the pandemic and the war. Another reason could be that Sweden is no longer as attractive to work in due to the exchange rate of the krone. There is also the risk that the number of people in the dark is still high.
Several factors indicate that crime at work is increasing in the country as a whole. According to figures from the Work Environment Agency, the police and the Public Prosecutor’s Office, more employers and companies are prosecuted for work environment violations.
Last year, 238 cases led to prosecution – a doubling compared to 2015.