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Kristå Svartz, CEO of Brå, lives in a 161 square meter six bedroom apartment in an attractive part of Stockholm city center. The apartment is located on the property of the Stockholm Police Foundation, which DN examined. The property was donated to the police in the 1940s through a foundation. Under the statutes, the return of rental income will go towards financial support for police officers in need, police officers who have been injured in the line of duty or who have performed heroic acts, and measures to promote trust. public in the police.
An important task for Brå is to evaluate and monitor the work of the police. Executive Director Kristina Svartz does not want to be interviewed. When asked if she sees a problem with the fact that she, as the head of Brå, lives on a foundation property managed by the authority that she must inspect, she responds to the text message:
“Brå produces a knowledge base to support, among other things, the operational development of the police. My assessment is that it is not affected ”.
Kristina Svartz is president of a tenant-landlord association made up of tenants from the foundation building who are interested in buying the apartments. So far, the foundation’s board has said no, but the issue has been taken as an opportunity, says a representative of the DN board.
Why are you working to sell the foundation’s leases?
“During my time, the board has not done any sales work,” Kristina Svartz replies via text message.
She does not want to answer what she thinks about what has emerged from DN’s review: that the high-ranking police chiefs who sat on the board were given apartments in the same house, but she refers to her husband Nils Svartz, who was the one who got the lease.
Nils Svartz, former acting director general of the Swedish Civil Contingencies Agency and before that senior police chief in Stockholm.
Photo: Thomas Henrikson / MSB.
Now retired but he has a long career in the highest positions in the Swedish Government. In other words, he was previously Acting Director General of the Swedish Civil Contingencies Agency and prior to that he was the curator of policing in Stockholm County. The administration also included the then president of the foundation that runs the apartment building, County Sheriff Gunno Gunnmo.
In 1998, an apartment was left empty on the property and, according to Nils Svartz, there was a tradition of having police officers in the administration living in the house.
– I perceived it as the will of the board.
He took the opportunity and got a contract.
– So I thought I was worth a bit of luck because I had suffered an accident loss on a home during the financial crisis. I thought: it was nice that life smiled at me a little, says Nils Svartz.
Can you understand if others think that life should also smile a little at them?
– Yes, I can understand it very well. But from my point of view, he was suddenly an owner who was not the police, but a foundation where the police themselves held these important positions. And what policy do they have about who should have apartments, I felt that it was neither the direction of the police in the Stockholm case nor my case to decide. It wasn’t my problem, so to speak: I get an apartment that allows me to have my family and children there, and I came relatively recently from a divorce, so I thought it was good.
Photo: Magnus Hallgren
Gunno Gunnmo was low during this period he was county chief of police in Stockholm county and thus president of the foundation. So he saw no problem with Svartz getting an apartment on the property.
– He applied for an apartment and it was an apartment that was empty then. Then we followed the rules that existed and he was not involved in any part of the decision-making process.
Despite being on the same management team?
– I don’t see any major problems with the management team and with the police. So the question is whether a police officer can get an apartment on the property. So the answer is yes. Therefore, there is a risk of suspicion of a conflict of interest situation. There was no conflict situation in relation to Svartz.
Gunno Gunnmo does not recognize the image that there was a tradition of having police officers at the address living in the house and that it was the board’s desire to give Svartz an apartment in the house.
– I have no memory of that and therefore cannot confirm or deny the information.
Gunno Gunnmo, a former Stockholm County Police Chief.
Photo: Anders G Warne
Gunno Gunnmo, chairman of the foundation board, was your boss and you were part of the same leadership group. Did you think it could be unfair?
– Then I thought whose responsibility it was – the board that governs the foundation. It’s me? No, I do not control the foundation. I perceived it as the board’s desire to have someone from the police management in the house. It was 22 years ago, the world looked a little different then, even in today’s discussions of benefits and disputes, says Nils Svartz.
What do you say about what has come up now in the DN review?
– I have no idea about it – or rather: I don’t want any idea about it. I will say it. We are neighbors of those you examine, says Nils Svartz.
While Gunno Gunnmo says:
– I am a strong supporter of investigative journalism. But I think it is a shame that the police end up in this situation because of the damage to trust. I myself would not have rented an apartment in this house.
Read more:
Police Foundation on supporting the needy: “Bad with money right now”
The senior police chiefs were given apartments, they sat on the board themselves
Podcast: “Trust in the Police Is Affected by Apartment Deals”
