By: Annika Andersson/TT
Published: Just now
JO criticizes the municipality of Norrköping for the way it investigated grant fraud.
Among other things, the methods have involved illegal surveillance of citizens.
The municipal board in Norrköping made a decision in the spring of 2020 to intensify the work to detect grant fraud.
But now the Ombudsman Per Lennerbrandt is directing serious criticism at the municipality. Individuals, and in some cases even their relatives, have been surreptitiously monitored and their lifestyles documented in detail.
“The investigative methods are contrary to the constitutional protection of personal integrity and the right to privacy. It is very remarkable that no real considerations were made about the legal conditions before the methods began to be used,” says JO Per Lennerbrant in a press release.
The approach can be equated with spying methods, writes JO, which is reserved for criminal investigation authorities.
The municipality of Norrköping responds to the criticism in a press release:
“The decision is extensive and requires careful review to see how we can work forward, but also see what we could have done differently, but what I can say at the outset is that we as a municipality must of course have working methods that have legal support,” says Sophia Jarl (M), chairman of the municipal board.