SD leader Mattias Karlsson’s fund-raising foundation is on paper not part of the party. So far, the party has not commented on the manifesto with far-right conspiracy theories that Kalla fakta revealed yesterday. Several strong connections to the party are now revealed. Cold facts have obtained several thousand chat messages and internal documents that tell about SD leader Mattias Karlsson’s fundraising foundation. They show that the Sweden Democrats have secretly paid for the activities, despite the party denying any influence and saying that the organizations conduct completely separate activities. Got an office for free With the help of several sources, we can show that the foundation has had an office in the party’s premises for approximately four months without paying rent. The market value for four months’ rent of a corresponding premises in the same building is around SEK 400,000. When we ask the Sweden Democrats about this, they answer in writing that the foundation was allowed to use the office for certain meetings during a time when it was empty. Internal chats show how meetings for the foundation have been held inside Sweden’s Riksdag. The Sweden Democrats’ answer to this is that party representatives and party employees may use the premises for “relevant purposes”. Mislabeled invoices Cold facts have the foundation’s accounting for 2021. Using the chats and posts on social media, we can compare what the foundation has done and what it has paid for. Several purchases for the foundation are missing from the accounting. The Sweden Democrats later confirm that they have paid for several of the foundation’s expenses. Among other things, travel, board and lodging for a conference trip to Norway and for another to Portugal, a mobile broadband from Hallon and a subscription to an IT service. The party has also provided meeting rooms in Sweden’s Riksdag. Cold facts have also identified several invoices that the foundation has let others pay. Invoices addressed to the foundation have instead been sent to Sweden Democrat Dick Eriksson’s communications agency. He is responsible publisher for the party’s YouTube channel Riks. The invoices concern support for the association Bränsleuproret. Andreas Palmlöv, chief strategist in the foundation and Mattias Karlsson’s closest man in SD, instructs them to be labeled misleadingly with “Project Management, Skokloster”. The party changes its answer The party does not want anyone to appear for an interview, but writes in an email that all expenses have been party-related. The press department writes, for example, that Mattias Karlsson gave a speech in Portugal as a representative of the Sweden Democrats. When Kalla fakta sends photos from the scene showing that he has been presented as a representative of Oikos, which is the foundation’s think tank, the party writes that “The strict and black and white division into events for political parties and events for civil society organizations, which you paint, thus exists usually not in practice.” The party also writes that the mobile broadband has been used by a party employee during the pandemic to work remotely. Cold facts tell us that the chats show that it was bought for the office and the foundation. The party then writes that it did not appear “as unreasonable to provide broadband at the location” because there was “certain party activity” in the premises. Responds via email After Kalla fakta published its review on TV4 Play, Dick Eriksson responds to email. He writes that the invoice “refers to 50 hours of project management and organization, the Skokloster project. My firm cooperated with others in a deal on this project.” In the chats from Andreas Palmlöv, it appears that the invoice concerned a salary payment to Bränsleuproret from the foundation. We are waiting for a response to clarify whether Dick Eriksson knew about this. See parts of the feature in the player above – you can find the full review here. Here you can read: This is true and false in the SD summit’s manifesto.
t4-general
SD pays foundation behind right-wing radical manifesto – in secret
