In an examination that Kalla fakta has done, it appears that five out of eight parties in Sweden’s Riksdag – M, S, SD, L and KD – have proposed plans to circumvent the law on transparency in party financing – a law that was tightened in 2018 to prevent corruption.
The party secretary of the Moderates, Gunnar Strömmer, proposes, among other things, that the donor, a businessman who is secretly part of Kalla fakta’s review, should participate and part-finance with 350,000 kroner to an activity that is not connected to the Moderates – but which is of “very great use” for the party .
– Yes, but it’s like this, there are a lot of opinion leaders etc. who go in the direction of a change of government, but who have nothing to do with the Moderates. We don’t need to report contributions that don’t go to the Moderates, says Gunnar Strömmer in the recorded conversation.
In addition to the tip about giving indirect support to the party, the party secretary of the Moderates also suggests that the donor, together with other businessmen with a high reputation in the social debate, should finance a call center. The identity becomes known – but not as obvious. Another tip is to give a smaller amount within the limit of what is legal to donate anonymously.
Gunnar Strömmer: “Self-critical”
In a text message to SVT Nyheter, Gunnar Strömmer writes that in the conversation he “informed about various ways to openly contribute to the Moderates” – but that the conversation should have stopped there:
“I should not have mentioned that you can contribute to other actors outside of party politics. Here I am self-critical. I will take that with me when we go through guidelines and routines for our fundraising activities,” he writes.
Since Kalla fakta revealed that several parties have circumvented the law on anonymous contributions, the Social Democrats’ finance director Magdalena Agrell has been removed from office. Linda Flinth, the Liberals’ responsible for strategic management support, has also left her post.