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On Friday, DN was able to report that several authorities have launched a joint effort against several closely related nonprofits in Tensta. The background is the suspicion that the Public Employment Service has been misled and that wage subsidies of just over SEK 21 million may have been paid for wrong reasons.
The effort began in 2019 with the Swedish Revenue Agency and the Enforcement Officer conducting raids looking for book assets and foreclosure. Neither in the gambling property of the park that the associations had at their disposal nor in the association’s treasurer’s house could any discoveries be made. Later, the authorities went to the banks of the associations. One of the discoveries surprised the researchers in particular: almost 780,000 SEK had been transferred without explanation to two people who were not entitled to the wage subsidies that the Swedish Public Employment Service awarded to associations.
– This looked very strange considering that the associations had no other income than wage subsidies and that these people were not employed, says one of the researchers.
Those who received the money It turned out to be the president and treasurer of the associations, respectively, as well as the two board members who had the right to manage all bank funds. The treasurer had clearly received the highest amount: SEK 717,000. The president, whose name is Burhan Yildiz and represents the Liberals on the council of Svenska Bostäder, among others, had received in turn 62,600 SEK.
Former politician Burhan Yildiz is required to pay large sums of fines, something he has appealed against.
Photo: Lotta Härdelin
In an attempt to clarify what was behind it, the Swedish Tax Agency contacted the four associations from which the money had been transferred: the Kurdish Democratic and Cultural Association, the Komhuner Kulturförening, the Komhuner Utbildningscentrum and a local women’s association .
“The Swedish Revenue Agency has asked you to explain what the transfers to Burhan Yildiz and NN (name removed, editor’s note) mean and asked you for documentation for the transactions. He has not come up with an answer, “wrote Christer Ahlroth of the Swedish Revenue Agency earlier this year in one of several tax assessment decisions.
– Our assessment is that there have been undeclared salary payments to these people and that both employer contribution and income tax must be paid, says Christer Ahlroth.
Burhan Yildiz is now required at 48,000 crowns in taxes and fines and the treasurer of 319,000 crowns. In addition to this, Burhan Yildiz must pay 138,000 SEK and the treasurer 91,000 SEK because it is considered that they acted with gross negligence since, as signatories, they did not pay the tax debts that had arisen in the associations. The treasurer is also required to reimburse SEK 266,000 to the Swedish Social Security Agency, as she has allegedly been active in the associations at the same time as she has been on sick leave from her job in the city of Stockholm for more than a year.
Both President Burhan Yildiz and the treasurer have appealed the claims to the Administrative Court. The transfers of 780,000 SEK to their private accounts must, according to them, have been in all cases necessary expenses for the operation of the associations, something for which the Tax Agency has not found support.
“I was stupid enough not to take (sic!) A copy of my expenses and keep them,” Burhan Yildiz wrote to the Administrative Court.
The treasurer in turn claims that he always canceled all receipts immediately after the annual meetings of the associations.
“The reason is that they do not want personal data circulated in various newspapers, as our members fear retaliation if it falls into the wrong hands,” he writes.
Board members inform DN that their expenses have consisted mainly of cash advances to people who were employed with salary subsidies from the Swedish Public Employment Service.
– They didn’t always have it so easy and when they came and needed money, of course they wanted to help, says Burhan Yildiz.
Since many associations were exposed to fraud at this time, it felt better to have the money in our own accounts.
First, it is not clear why the advances could not have been paid electronically from the association’s account. But a bit in conversation, Burhan Yildiz and the treasurer describe the whole thing as a security measure.
– Since many associations were exposed to fraud at this time, we thought it better to have the money in our own accounts, says the treasurer.
Three of the current associations has now been declared bankrupt. The bankruptcy trustees have also failed to handle any accounting and therefore no supporting documentation on the cash wage advances. But even though the Accounting Law states that receipts must normally be kept for seven years, no police report will be made.
– The law does not apply to non-profit associations that lack business activity. And so it is in this case, explains lawyer Leif Bäckström, who manages the bankruptcy estate in Komhuner Kulturförening, where the accounts receivable from the Swedish Tax Agency and the Swedish Public Employment Service amount to approximately 700,000 SEK.
In DN’s experience, however, the case ended up on the police table, in part due to suspicions of infidelity against the director.
– There is nothing we can comment on, says a Stockholm Police officer.
Read more:
No aptitude test of convicted “security creators”
Former offenders would increase security: they would continue to commit crimes
President Burhan Yildiz: “We have not deceived anyone”
Millions in wage subsidies are believed to have been paid for the wrong reasons
