Säpos interrogation of the cleaning lady – she does not have to testify against Landerholm

The cleaner does not remember anything about Henrik Landerholm’s forgotten secret documents on the course yard.

This is evident from Säpo’s interrogation of the woman. It was in this safe that the documents were left open. Photo: SECURITY POLICE It was at a kick-off meeting that Henrik Landerholm forgot several secret documents. Photo: LEIF BRÄNNSTRÖMHenrik Landerholm was the government’s security advisor who was forced to resign because he had forgotten secret documents on a course yard. Photo: Christine Olsson / TT NEWS AGENCY

The government’s former national security advisor Henrik Landerholm was indicted earlier this spring for negligence in the handling of classified information. For Landerholm, who is a close friend of Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson, it was the end of his career in the government office.

The article in brief

The cleaner remembers nothing about Henrik Landerholm’s forgotten secret deeds.

Säpo’s interrogation does not provide any new clues – but shows her everyday life and language barriers.

The documents were lying open in a security cabinet in the course yard.

According to the Security Service’s investigation, the documents were found in a cupboard by a cleaning lady who can be “linked to the violent extremist environment”.

Landerholm has previously claimed that the documents he left behind in a course yard were found by one of his employees and that the locker was locked.

Late for almost two days

But it was a cleaning lady from an external cleaning company who found the secret documents and handed them over to the cleaning staff at the course building. It would then take almost two days before the documents arrived at the Government Offices. Henrik Landerholm himself never missed the documents.

The mayor was at home in Georgia when the scandal broke. Staff at the conference facility have told of her findings, that the documents were in an open safe in the hotel room Landerholm had left when he checked out.

Säpo’s interrogation of the cleaning lady shows that she cleaned at Gällöfsta for a short time. She was also given the task of doing the laundry.

She doesn’t remember anything about the incident in March 2023, when Henrik Landerholm forgot the documents. She had read about the news when she was in her home country.

The interrogation shows that the woman at some point found some A4 papers that were stapled together, but she does not remember any concrete circumstances surrounding this. She does not remember where in the room she found the forgotten papers.

Säpo’s interrogator does not receive any new pieces of the puzzle during the interrogation that fit into the indictment against Henrik Landerholm. But the interrogation provides an insight into her life as a cleaner without understanding Swedish or English. The aid has been Google translate.

Nine witnesses called

During the interview, the woman says that the receptionist used to give her keys to the different rooms that were to be cleaned. She had her mobile phone with her when she worked.

She says she has never had the opportunity or need to translate written text with the translation program on her phone.

There wasn’t much communication between her and the staff at the conference facility, which is under the Department of Defense. The staff would give her a list of times a guest would check out. She had twenty minutes to clean one room, an hour to clean three rooms.

The prosecutor asks during the interrogation about her ability to understand English. For example, if she were given a piece of paper with instructions or read a page from a book, would she be able to read or understand it?

The woman says she wouldn’t do that, and that she only knows a little English. The interrogation also shows that she willingly offers the investigators to look at her mobile phone, where it is clear that she uses Google Translate to translate most basic things into Georgian.

The mystery of the cleaning lady’s Nordea account

When the security police examined and profiled the cleaning lady, they found an interesting deposit in her Nordea account. It involved a deposit of 15,000 kronor from a person with indirect connections to a violent Islamist environment.

But the interrogation does not provide any clues that could connect the woman to the same environment. She says she does not remember the deposit and says that several people used her Nordea account.

A secret witness

The trial against Henrik Landerholm begins on August 18th in Attunda District Court and is expected to last three days. Nine people have been called as witnesses. Among them is one person with a secret identity.

The mayor will not be called to the witness stand.