A senior executive and a secretary at a Swedish alcoholic drinks wholesaler have been convicted of paying 190,000 kronor in bribes to 18 store managers at the Systembolaget alcohol retain monopoly chain.
Systembolaget has been trying to persuade the EU this week that an alcohol retail monopoly is the only way to protect Swedish public health. But the result of the advertising campaign has only been to strengthen the impression that Systembolaget – and Sweden’s draconian alcohol regulations – are in their death throes.
Systembolaget, Sweden's alcohol state-owned monopoly, is celebrating its fiftieth anniversary with a 3.5 million kronor marketing campaign aimed at the President of the European Commission, José Manuel Barroso.
The Stockholm court playing host to the "Systembolaget bribery" trial has decided that the managing director of alcohol wholesaler Vin-Trägårdh is too sick to take part in the proceedings, which began on Monday.
The number of Swedes in favour of preserving state-owned Systembolaget's monopoly on the sale of alcohol is growing. Sixty percent of Swedes support the monopoly, compared with 55 percent in March this year.
Alcohol consumption has soared more than 30 percent in Sweden since the mid-1990s, costing the country an additional 50 billion kronor each year, according to a report published Tuesday by the Swedish Temperance Organization.
The man heading the government's inquiry into the alcohol tax, Kent Härstedt, has proposed a tax reduction on beer and wine of 30%. If the reduction is approved, the actual cost of booze would fall by about 10%.
Systembolaget, the state-owned alcohol retail monopoly, has announced that it will dismiss 50 store managers suspected of receiving bribes from suppliers. 27 other store managers similarly accused have already left the company.
77 Systembolaget managers and 15 employees of alcohol distributing companies have been formally charged with bribery. A total of 1.2 million crowns is alleged to have been given to bosses of different stores in form of alcohol, trips and cash.
Malmö police revealed on Monday that every other local grocery shop in the city is selling alcohol illegally, while according to Dagens Nyheter, the amount of alcohol smuggled into the country has doubled over the last four years.
Tuesday's Dagens Nyheter reported on the latest developments in the so-called 'Systemet bribery mess'. Over a year ago, ten shop managers were fired for allegedly favouring certain suppliers' goods in return for holidays, concert tickets and (shock!) free booze.
If the top brass at Systembolaget thought their openness would draw to a close the daily reports of bribery and corruption in the ranks, they were very much mistaken.
