On Tuesday, September 5, the trial began in Sweden’s largest insider scandal where Ica traders from south-eastern Sweden and their families have earned 20.5 million from Ica shares.
A total of 18 people are indicted and the main defendant is suspected of serious insider trading. He is said to have spread information that the Ica traders’ association would make a high bid for the rest of Ica Gruppen’s shares, which also The evening paper reported on.
In the middle of the night after an annual conference, several of the defendants are said to have bought shares.
– There is really no reason to do it then, you could say that it is an unusual time to place orders, says the prosecutor Pontius Hamilton at the Ecocrime Authority to The evening paper.
The accused sent a picture of expensive champagne
In the preliminary investigation report which News24 taken part in, you can see a picture of an expensive champagne poured into two Ica Maxi glasses. The picture was sent between two of the defendants, after the Ica traders’ bid for the Ica Group became public to the public.
During the preliminary investigation, some of the people involved must have made some big mistakes. A suspect found out that he appeared in the police’s suspect register for a regional environmental association. This ended with the suspect starting to delete a lot of text messages and urging others to do the same.
– It was unfortunate that he found out, it is not meant to be found out that you are the subject of an investigation, when coercive measures are planned against him, says the prosecutor to Aftonbladet.
An intercepted conversation about the SMS conversations
However, the suspects’ phones were intercepted and there they talked, among other things, about the deleted SMS conversations. This means that they are indirectly included in the evidence anyway.
In an intercepted conversation, which Nyheter24 took part in the preliminary investigation report, they say, among other things:
– Yes, I am devilishly boring.
-Yes. That’s really weird.
– Yes. But you?
– Yes?
– I have gone back and checked within our SMS conversation.
– Yes?
– It is not beautiful.
– Nah, but maybe it is.
They are also said to have said:
– But you, you don’t have an SMS conversation left, do you?
– No I have not.
– Look. See. Then I remove mine too.
The defendants are four women and 14 men between the ages of 22 and 67.
– I will request everything from a suspended sentence to multi-year prison sentences for some people, says prosecutor Pontus Hamilton to Aftonbladet.