While the employee wasn’t authorized to make decisions about residence permits applications, he was able to issue the actual documents, reports the Dagens Nyheter (DN) newspaper.
After seven months had passed without the Afghan having received a residence permit, he confronted the employee about the matter, using his mobile phone to record the conversation.
The Migration Board employee tried unsuccessfully to forcefully take the Afghan’s phone away from him during the confrontation.
The phone has since become a key piece of evidence for prosecutors handling the case.
The employee denies that he accepted money and claims that the Afghan started to threaten him after not receiving a residence permit.
The indictment also includes charges of assaulting the Afghan, whose shirt was torn during the scuffle over the telephone, and of unauthorized accessing of personal data in connection with more than ten other asylum applications.
The employee has since been suspended pending the outcome of the case.