A former employee of the municipal company Älvstranden in Gothenburg has been convicted by the Gothenburg District Court for accepting bribes, reports Expressen.
The sentence is valued at nearly a year's imprisonment, but the sentence is suspended and limited to a fine. This is due to the official being previously unconvicted and a long time having passed since the crime was committed.
Together with a company director, the official is convicted of 16 counts of bribery.
This includes, among other things, various wine trips and golf tournaments, as well as a large sum of cash that the official allegedly received from the company director. At the same time, the official is said to have made over 140 purchases from the same company.
During the trial, the defence has emphasised the friendship that existed between the employee and the CEO, and that the benefits do not need to be seen as a bribe, but rather as a sign of friendship, according to Expressen.
The former CEO of Älvstranden was forced to leave their post after the newspaper's exposé. The CEO allegedly chose not to report suspected bribes that were revealed in a report in the summer of 2020, according to the newspaper.
