Peter Wolodarski, editor-in-chief of Dagens Nyheter, directs strong criticism at the Government Office.
He accuses the authority of delaying and procrastinating the review of former national security adviser Henrik Landerholm.
During the summer of 2023, the Government Office received an anonymous whistleblower report about security problems in parts of the authority, and DN began to unravel the tangle.
The newspaper was in contact with more than 200 people and the reporters made more than 50 requests to obtain public documents – but everything was delayed, and it could take weeks to get access to the material, Wolodarski said.
“The delay was so remarkable that it appeared that the review was actually being opposed,” writes DN’s editor-in-chief in an editorial in the newspaper.
DN then tested a different method – they requested the same documents under the invented name Simon. Nothing was said about Dagens Nyheter.
Took two days
“This time the documents arrived within two days. And they were delivered digitally. For DN’s journalists, the corresponding request took between 30 and 46 days. The material was then printed on paper, not as usual digitally, and needed to be retrieved during limited opening hours,” writes Wolodarski.
He also compares with previous audits by Säpo, the National Audit Office and the Swedish Transport Agency, where no resistance was encountered.
“But when we examined the Ministry of Foreign Affairs or the Government Office as a whole, there is a constant squabbling over the most basic issues,” Wolodarski writes, adding that this also happened under social democratic governments.
Reported to JO
DN has reported the delayed handling to the judicial ombudsman and also informed the legal director of the cabinet committee.
Former national security advisor Henrik Landerholm left secret documents in an unlocked safe at a farm outside Stockholm in March 2023.
Landerholm left his post as national security adviser when the criminal investigation against him began in January this year. In September, he was acquitted by the district court of the charge of negligence with secret information. Prosecutors have appealed the verdict.
TT has contacted the Government Office, which declined to comment on Wolodarski’s criticism.
