The Swedish independent school group Kunskapsskolan has, together with Saab, made school investments in Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates.
The schools would also act as pawns in arms shops.
– Think how much better it will be if the sale of equipment also leads to more people getting a better education, says Peje Emilsson, Kunskapsskolan’s owner.
The billion-dollar group Kunskapsskolan runs primary and secondary schools in Borlänge, Västerås and Varberg, among others. More unknown is that they also have operations in the city of Jeddah, in Saudi Arabia.
There is the Nün Academy – a school where children study the Koran every day, where girls and boys are separated by gender and it is forbidden to criticize the Saudi regime. A dictatorship that sanctions mass executions and imprisons human rights activists.
– It is about a terrible oppression, says Joey Shea, expert on Saudi Arabia from Human Rights Watch.
The situation has not prevented another Swedish company from investing in Nün Academy – the arms manufacturer Saab.
They own 23 percent of Kedtech Holding, the company behind Kunskapsskolan’s Middle Eastern ventures. Since 2014, Kedtech has planned to start schools in Bahrain, Libya, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates, UAE. Saab has made millions of investments in the business. Email conversations we have seen show that the investments have also been supported by the Swedish government via the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
Henrik Landerholm, today national security advisor to the prime minister, was formerly Swedish ambassador in Abu Dhabi in the United Arab Emirates. He confirms that in his role he tried to help Kunskapsskolan, Saab and Kedtech with a school establishment in the country, also as part of the arms deals.
– The activities took place within the framework of the embassy’s regular trade promotion. There was also a potential possibility that an establishment could have contributed to fulfilling Saab’s commitment to counter-purchase while at the same time contributing to the development of the UAE’s school system, he says.
He further explains that counter-purchases are often used in the arms trade.
– Counter-purchases are the very common commitments that are made in connection with the sale of military equipment by whoever receives the contract in question with the aim of strengthening the economy of the purchasing country.
Knowledge school owner Peje Emilsson also confirms that the school investment in Saudi Arabia and the plans in the United Arab Emirates would be part of a counter-purchase to Saab’s arms sales.
– When a company does large industrial deals, it is usually a prerequisite that the other country does something as well, he says.
Do you see any problem with schools and children’s education being used in gun shops?
– If you put it that way, of course you might think it’s strange. I think the more you can get a better education in these parts, the better. Every country has the right to have security systems. We don’t have arms deals with Saudi now, but quite a lot with the Emirates. Schools can enter there as well. They have a great interest in it.
The United Arab Emirates is one of Saab’s largest export countries. In 2021, Saab will, among other things, have sold military reconnaissance aircraft and the Globaleye radar system to the country, despite criticism that the United Arab Emirates violates human rights and wars in Yemen.
– The export of Globaleye has been criticized because the system can help the United Arab Emirates and Saudi Arabia to maintain the blockade against Yemen, which among other things has led to a major famine there, says Linda Åkerström, head of policy at Swedish Peace.
She believes that the arms trade is recognition for the dictatorships in the Middle East, while at the same time strengthening their military power. It is used to keep down citizens’ demands for democracy and freedom.
– It is of course an incredible double standard that Saab, which now markets itself in advertising campaigns as a defender of democratic freedoms and rights, has extensive business with dictatorships, says Linda Åkerström.
That schools and children are used for these purposes is unique, according to SIPRI, Stockholm’s international peace research institute.
– I don’t understand why Saab would deal with schools, if they are not technical schools, says Pieter Wezeman, senior researcher at the institute.
– When it comes to counter-purchases, you usually invest in the same industry. If a country imports weapons, that country can, for example, require an investment in the production of parts for that weapon.
The issue of counter-purchase is controversial and very sensitive. Experts describe the phenomenon as a “black hole” in the arms industry, something that is very difficult to gain insight into. Thanks to documents and email conversations, we can see how the scheme was supposed to work.
The knowledge school’s owner Peje Emilsson has, for example, visited the Ministry of Education in the United Arab Emirates together with Saab’s Middle East manager, Jerry Sigfeldt.
The purpose from Saab’s side was clear: The company wants to invest in the training projects to benefit the United Arab Emirates, to which it exports large quantities of weapons.
Ambassador Henrik Landerholm writes home to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Stockholm that the visit has given the United Arab Emirates’ regime “more taste” and that he hopes this can now “set the ball rolling” in the government office.
When the United Arab Emirates then sends a delegation to Stockholm in the fall of 2019, they meet, among other things, then Minister of Education Anna Ekström and are shown around the School of Science in Nacka.
Some knowledge schools however, it still hasn’t opened in the UAE. But Peje Emilsson says the plans still exist.
– I hope it will come eventually.
Our review shows that, via loans and owner contributions, at least one hundred million Swedish kronor have been injected into the school investments in the Middle East.
According to Peje Emilsson, all the money comes from Saab, and not from Kunskapsskolan.
– No Swedish school money goes into this, he says.
At the same time as the school Nün Academy started up in Saudi Arabia around 2015, Saab AB invested roughly SEK 22 million in Kedtech. Saab has previously sold, for example, anti-tank missiles and the Erieye radar system to Saudi Arabia. The company does not want to answer whether military equipment has been exported to the country in recent years.
– We never communicate in detail our total sales to an individual country. Saab’s operations and sales in recent years to the country in question are limited to support and maintenance linked to sensor systems and marine and air traffic control, answers Saab’s press manager Mattias Rådsttröm.
He confirms that Saab injected money into the Nün Academy and the other school ventures in the Middle East, and had an “educational partnership” in the United Arab Emirates. However, Saab believes that they have not had counter-purchases in Saudi Arabia.
– We support and get involved in various initiatives around the world that, among other things, aim to promote interest in science and technology among children and young people, of which this is also an example, he says.
FACT That’s Saab’s answer
“Education and competence issues are important to Saab, which is natural as we work with high-tech solutions in industry. We therefore support and get involved in various initiatives that, among other things, aim to promote interest in science and technology among children and young people. It is a work that is ongoing in many countries around the world.
Regarding our operations in the UAE, we have communicated several times about our industrial collaborations in the country. Such industrial cooperation can, for example, concern various types of educational cooperation.
As for the Nün Academy in Jeddah, Saab has for a number of years held a small ownership in a company which in turn is a partner in the school. Saab’s work in supporting various types of educational initiatives will continue, in which way and to what extent will of course vary.” writes press manager Mattias Rådström.
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