In December, Viksten was tasked with, as he put it himself, “turning over all the stones” surrounding the police management mess revealed by The Express.
The appointment of Viksten received criticism, as he previously reviewed Säpo’s handling of the terrorist attack on Drottninggatan and concluded that Säpo, under the leadership of Anders Thornberg, did not make any mistakes.
Viksten’s new investigation landed in very harsh criticism of one of those involved: deputy national police chief Mats Löfving, who was later found dead in his home.
Others examined, including Anders Thornberg and Noa’s head of intelligence Linda Staaf, did not receive any serious criticism.
Awarded assignments
The highest commander of the armed forces, Commander-in-Chief Micael Bydén, had confirmed in autumn 2022 that he had a love relationship with Linda Staaf.
At the same time, SVT’s investigation shows that until the end of 2022, Runar Viksten had remunerated assignments for the Swedish Armed Forces, which gave him fees totaling around 90,000 kroner (see fact box).
Runar Viksten tells SVT that he did not see any risk of trouble, and emphasizes that the assignment as an auditor, a kind of legal advisor to the heads of the three defense branches, would end at the turn of the year. Therefore, he saw no reason to raise any discussion.
But Olle Lundin, professor of administrative law, believes that the issue should have been discussed.
– Jäv is about dangerous bonds and improper consideration, so everything must be aired. Then you have to talk through how to do it, but then the cards are on the table.
– If you boil it down, he would be investigating the manager’s girlfriend.
Unknown to the national police chief
When SVT confronts national police chief Anders Thornberg, he says that the information about Viksten’s side mission is new to him, and that the Swedish Police Agency should look into the matter and “take the measures they do when new information comes to light” (see video).
Linda Staaf declines an interview via the police media center, but says that she “finds it difficult to see that the conclusions in Viksten’s report would have been influenced” by Viksten’s assignment to the Armed Forces.
SVT is looking for Micael Bydén