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Hear from businessman Geir Lolleng on why the tax debt was not paid.
It was after the bankruptcy of the Delling Group in 2008 that the Norwegian businessman Geir Lolleng incurred large debts.
The then Stockholm County Administrative Court decided that he was personally responsible for the refund of 12.2 million unpaid taxes and fees to the Swedish state.
But most of that money would never be paid.
I tried to get in touch
The Swedish Enforcement Agency made repeated attempts between 2009 and 2011 to contact him, according to a letter from the Swedish Revenue Agency to the Stockholm Administrative Court.
The task they had to go to was an address in London, but neither in the one address nor in the new one that emerged in the UK was the authority able to contact Lolleng. In February 2011, the Swedish Enforcement Agency stated that it no longer knew in which country Geir Lolleng was located and ended the active search.
Debts are prescribed by law
In October 2013, the liabilities amounted to just over 10.3 million. The Swedish Tax Agency then requested an extension of the statute of limitations for the tax debt, claiming that it had not been able to contact Lolleng to collect the debt. The Administrative Court decided to accept this and extended the deadline until December 31, 2018.
But nothing new emerged during those years and the debt has been prescribed since January 1, 2019.
Just over a year later, Geir Lolleng stands as one of the three board members of Quality Salmon in Sotenäs, who wants to build Europe’s largest land-based salmon farm outside of Kungshamn.
Lives in the Philippines
When SVT Nyheter Väst contacts Geir Lolleng, he is in the Philippines, where he now lives and works as a commercial lawyer. He says he does not know that the Execution Officer searched for him abroad.
Should it be construed as avoiding Swedish taxes?
– No no no. I met with representatives of the Swedish Enforcement Agency many, many times, so I certainly have not.
So the Tax Agency is wrong when it writes that the Enforcement Officer has not been able to communicate with you?
– No, I do not deny that it is a tax debt. But I want to make it clear that I have not withheld any taxes.
Why didn’t you pay the tax debt?
– Since I had no money, I lost everything I had to bankruptcy.
Leaving the company – after the SVT interview
Less than an hour after the interview ended, Geir Lolleng called his business colleague Roy Høiås and announced that he wanted to resign from his position on the Quality Salmon Sotenäs board of directors.
– The reason you are leaving the board is that much attention has been paid to your 2009 story, which you believe is not beneficial to Quality Salmon and has nothing to do with the company. The Quality Salmon establishment does not benefit from having this negative publicity, Roy Høiås tells SVT Nyheter Väst.
Did you know that the Swedish Enforcement Agency has been trying to contact you for several years about an unpaid tax debt?
– We knew the story, but we didn’t think it had any significance for your role as a board member.
According to Roy Høiås, the salmon project will not be affected by Geir Lolleng’s departure.
