What is described as Sweden's largest environmental scandal has finally landed in court, as the nearly 100-day-long main hearing in the Think Pink scandal began on Tuesday at Attunda District Court in Sollentuna.
Eleven people are charged in the case, but it was the CEO, known as Bella Nilsson, the face of now-bankrupt Think Pink, who was the clear main person of the day.
Does not answer questions
Wearing a pair of large, dark sunglasses, she arrived last at the court, and a small commotion ensued as photographers and journalists pushed to get to the so-called "Waste Queen."
Nilsson, who has since changed her name, did not answer any questions, instead pushing away the reporters' microphones and entering the courtroom.
Like the other ten, she denies any wrongdoing.
Among the other defendants are Bella Nilsson's former husband Thomas Nilsson, with whom she founded the company, and TV profile Leif-Ivan Karlsson.
The eleven defendants are suspected of being behind the illegal dumping of hundreds of thousands of tons of waste at 21 locations in central Sweden between 2015 and 2020. The waste, mainly construction and demolition waste, was supposed to be sorted but was instead crushed and left in piles or buried, according to the indictment.
The waste has been left near water protection areas, unprotected stormwater drains, residential areas, and protected coastal areas.
During Tuesday's hearing, the prosecutors presented aerial photographs of several of the sites, showing Think Pink's pink garbage bags sticking out here and there in the vast waste collections.
As you saw, there are enormous amounts of waste at some of the sites, says prosecutor Lise-Lotte Tegler to TT after Tuesday's hearing.
Threat to the environment
The waste has been hazardous both for the environment and for human health.
There are already contaminations in soil and water from these large waste facilities. Over several years, this can lead to harm to both humans and animals, or forever in some places, says Tegler.
She does not want to comment on what the prosecution will be seeking in terms of punishment, but emphasizes that it is not a matter of fines for any of the eleven.
This is a very serious environmental crime, and for that, we have imprisonment in the penalty scale.
Extensive damages are also being sought against the defendants in the case. According to TV4 News, the total amount is 262 million kronor.
The charges against the eleven people in the Think Pink scandal are the largest environmental crime case to have landed in a Swedish court. The preliminary investigation consists of around 50,000 pages.
The locations covered by the charges are in 15 municipalities. These are Botkyrka, Eskilstuna, Flen, Gullspång, Haninge, Huddinge, Håbo, Laxå, Norberg, Norrtälje, Skövde, Strängnäs, Uppsala, Västerås, and Östhammar.
Five of the defendants are suspected of gross environmental crime. Four of these are also suspected of economic crime.
One person is charged with aiding and abetting gross environmental crime, and the remaining five in the case are suspected of environmental crime of a normal degree.
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