The Swedish defense has hired a Finnish private jet company to transport weapons, ammunition and parts for military systems. It will also evacuate personnel from Sweden’s international operations. In the agreement from 13 October 2021, it appears that the company must transport “dangerous goods”. In an agreement from 14 December 2021, “sensitive material” is mentioned.
But despite the fact that it is a sensitive military activity, the Swedish Armed Forces have chosen not to sign a security protection agreement with the company, Kalla fakta’s review shows. This arouses reactions from experienced observers, especially as the Finnish company Jetflite previously had connections to Russian oligarchs and companies in tax havens.
“Extremely Strange”
– I find it extremely strange. Remarkable. After all, this is a critical activity. This means that companies enter all our areas of operation. In my world, it would be a matter of course to have a security protection agreement and security check all personnel involved, says former Minister of Defense Mikael Odenberg.
In the fall, EPN in Finland revealed that Jetflite had flown three prime ministers and the then president Tarja Hallonen in planes owned by infamous Russian businessmen.
“Really closely linked to Russian money”
– They have had customers from Russia and Russian oligarchs for at least 20 years. For a long time it was their biggest customer. You can say that they are really closely connected to Russian money and in many cases dirty Russian money, says EPN reporter Jyri Hänninen.
Through the major Panama Papers and Pandora papers leaks from tax havens, EPN was able to reveal the true owners of planes flown by Jetflite, such as banker Alexander Savelyev, a billionaire with ties to Putin.
The Russian connections date back some time – but there may be an exception.
See the first part of Kalla fakta’s review – in the player above