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Nominated Swedish Company – Carl Bildt on the Board
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NEWS
According to the New York Times, the Swedish MSAB is alleged to have sold advanced surveillance technology to the Myanmar regime.
The equipment is believed to have fallen into the hands of the military, who recently carried out a bloody coup.
– Without knowing anything at all about it, in all probability it was the green light before the coup, responds Carl Bildt, member of the MSAB board of directors.
The New York Times has reviewed leaked budget documents, which show that the Myanmar regime has bought millions of dollars of spy equipment in recent years. It will be state of the art technology to listen to calls, hack mobile phones and computers, or locate where people are.
Bildt rejects the information
With advanced surveillance equipment, the military is believed to have targeted critics and opposition figures after the coup a month ago. Since then, at least 25 people have been killed and more than 1,000 arrested in Myanmar, including the democratically elected Foreign Minister Aung San Suu Kyi.
According to the newspaper review, the technology must have been purchased from various companies in the US, Israel and Europe; among other things, the Swedish MSAB, Micro Systemation AB, stood out.
Photo: TT
With advanced surveillance equipment, the military is believed to have targeted critics and opposition figures after the coup a month ago.
Photo: COLORBOX
OBS! Genrebild.
Carl Bildt, who is a member of the MSAB board, believes, however, that they cannot trust the information from Myanmar.
– What is in your budget is not the same as what actually happened. Indicate intention the same way a Swedish state budget does, he writes in an email to Aftonbladet.
The ethical pathos of the company stands out
MSAB specializes in forensic technology and sells systems for emptying phones and securing digital evidence. Customers should include police, military and governments from around the world.
Carl Bildt has previously highlighted MSAB’s ethical pathos, which he claims stands out in the industry:
“We have a valuation base and a profile that is a little higher than our competitors, which means that we choose not to participate in some agreements with countries that we do not want to access our products,” he said, for example, in relation to the 2019. Annual General Meeting, according to Aktiespararna.
MSAB also states that it follows “ethical guidelines to promote democratic development and human rights in all countries in which we operate.”
Documents can reveal the deal
But the New York Times review claims that Myanmar’s purchases of MSAB products appear as late as the 2020-2021 Interior Ministry budget. This will be a technology that will allow you to download mobile data and recreate deleted content.
Henrik Tjernberg, chairman of the MSAB board, told the US newspaper that some of the company’s products “ended up in Myanmar a few years ago” but they no longer sell equipment there due to the EU embargo on the country.
Carl Bildt does not want to answer whether he was aware of the company’s business with Myanmar or Burma, as the country was previously called. It refers to the fact that MSAB is reviewed by the Swedish supervisory authority ISP, the Swedish Inspectorate for Strategic Products.
– I suggest you contact the company for information. And the products are subject to state export control through the ISP. They give green or red light for different countries. And without knowing anything at all about it, in all likelihood there has been a green light for Burma before the coup, he writes.
Photo: Jessica Gow / TT
Carl Bildt is a member of the MSAB board.
Photo: TT
Protesters in Rangoon flee tear gas during protests on March 1.
Following the brutal military persecution of the Rohingya Muslim population in 2017, the EU and many countries have stopped exports to Myanmar of weapons and equipment that can be used for internal repression. The ISP documents Aftonbladet has read show that MSAB nonetheless applied for an export permit to the country in August 2018. Sales must have stopped in 2019, according to the company.
“The technology was sold a few years ago”
Aftonbladet has reached out to MSAB CEO and Chairman of the Board of Directors Henrik Tjernberg, who is referring to Communications Director Carolen Ytander. She also responds by email:
– Due to confidentiality, MSAB will never specifically comment on individual clients in nation states. Some of our older technology was sold to customers in Myanmar a few years ago, when the country seemed to be moving towards democratic development. This also happened in accordance with the policy of the Swedish government at the time, writes the communications chief.
– We are closely following the latest developments in Myanmar and I can confirm that there has been no recent sale of MSAB technology to Myanmar and we do not have any export permits for Myanmar. This will continue to be our strategy until we are confident that the region will once again have a more democratic base.
How is it possible that the purchases from MSAB appear in the last budget of the Ministry of the Interior?
– It could be a misunderstanding. A budget line does not mean that something has yet been sold. We have stopped selling to Myanmar. We are careful to prevent our products from falling into the wrong hands, says Carolen Ytander.
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