Former minister gets double-wage package

Moderate Party MP and former minister for defence, Sten Tolgfors, has been paid 115,000 kronor ($17,140) per month since the spring, despite not taking active part in any parliamentary activity, according to a report in daily Dagens Nyheter (DN).

• Government 'hid' sensitive Saudi email (21 Nov 12)
• Scandal made Tolgfors's position 'untenable' (30 Mar 12)
• Swedish defence minister Tolgfors resigns (29 Mar 12)

Since his return to his Riksdag duties, he has been getting both his MP salary of 58,300 kronor per month and his monthly severance pay of 56,700 kronor from his time as minister, according to DN.

Tolgfors left his post as minister this spring, in the wake of the Saudi arms scandal, when it was revealed that Sweden planned to help build an arms plant in Saudi Arabia.

At the time, Tolgfors told reporters that the media attention surrounding the scandal, first revealed by Sveriges Radio (SR) in early March, "hastened and facilitated" a move he said he'd been considering since the autumn of 2011.

Following his departure, there was much media speculation as to whether Tolgfors had really acted on his own accord or had been forced out by Prime Minister Fredrik Reinfeldt.

Since returning to his MP duties, the former minister has not written a single motion or taken part in any Riksdag debate, despite his substantial pay package.

Neither does he, according to DN, serve on any Riksdag committee, and the only time he has spoken in the chamber was in connection with the opening of the Riksdag when he confirmed he was present.

However, according to Moderate Party representatives, Tolgfors is still “active in his constituency and with general political issues”.