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Top Swedish execs hire bodyguards over threats

An increasing number of Sweden's top business executives are hiring bodyguards as the threat and risk of robbery and extortion grows in the country.

Top Swedish execs hire bodyguards over threats
Bodyguard with Prime Minister Fredrik Reinfeldt at press conference, Sept. 2008

Gothia Protection Group is one of the seven companies that provides bodyguard protection in Sweden and is currently employed by about 20 corporate heads, Dagens Nyheter (DN) reported on Friday.

“The realisation for stronger security measures comes as major Swedish companies’ boards become more internationalised,” Stellan Kjellberg, operations manager at Gothia Protection, explained to newspaper Dagens Nyheter (DN) on Friday.

“The American and English members who are elected bring their experiences from their countries,” he added.

The heightened security fears come on the heels of a Norwegian impostor and fraudster stealing 15.6 million ($2.33 million) from two Swedish millionaires last year.

Philip Holst-Cappelen remains at large after stalking, then threatening and stealing millions of kronor from two Swedish millionaires in Gothenburg and Stockholm, Aftonbladet reported on Tuesday.

On Monday, three of his accomplices were charged at Stockholm district court for aggravated robbery, kidnapping and receiving stolen funds and property. One accomplice has confessed to parts of the crimes but claims to have been cheated by Holst-Cappelen, while the others deny the charges.

Holst-Cappelen, 45, is on an international wanted list and most of the funds remain missing.

Holst-Cappelen and a 32-year-old male accomplice from Indonesia lived in an apartment that shared an entrance with a 47-year-old millionaire’s home in Gothenburg, Aftonbladet reported on Tuesday. From there, they tracked his movements for several months.

Another accomplice accompanied Holst-Cappelen into the apartment in March 2010. They overpowered the millionaire and threatened to cut off his fingers unless if he emptied his accounts to them.

The millionaire was trapped in his apartment for six days until he transferred more than 3.6 million kronor in his savings and shares to an account that was later withdrawn by the accomplices.

The man did not report the incident to police because the assailants had also threatened to kill his mother, the report said.

Several months later, the gang struck again, kidnapping another millionaire in his apartment on Stockholm’s exclusive Strandvägen for three days. They made threats against him and his daughter until he transferred 12 million kronor to the kidnappers, Aftonbladet reported.

Holst-Cappelen is alleged to have targeted six high-earning Swedes as potential victims, including a Carnegie trustee and a Wallenberg director, by scrutinising salary lists and and information about family members, the report said.

Gothia Protection is unique in that it focusses on personal protection for its customers, DN reported.

The kidnapping of electronics chain Siba’s CEO Fabian Bengtsson in early 2005 led to an increase in the demand for personal protection rose sharply, the report said.

After the beleaguered former CEO of Vattenfall, Lars G. Josefsson, was attacked by paint bombs by environmental activists last year, several large banks boosted their security measures.

Separately, outgoing Swedish Trade Union Confederation (Landsorganisationen i Sverige, LO) president Wanja Lundby-Wedin employed bodyguards during the height of the AMF scandal in 2009, the report said.

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FRANCE

Strikes: Transport chaos continues across France

Public transport in France was crippled for a fourth day Sunday as the government prepared to respond to anger over pension reforms that brought hundreds of thousands onto the streets as workers embarked on open-ended protest.

Strikes: Transport chaos continues across France
Image: JACQUES DEMARTHON / AFP

President Emmanuel Macron, Prime Minister Edouard Philippe and senior cabinet ministers are scheduled to hold a “working meeting” late Sunday to discuss a government project which the country's powerful labour unions claim will force many to work longer for a smaller retirement payout.

The strikes, which began Thursday over plans for a single, points-based pension scheme, recalled the winter of 1995, when three weeks of stoppages forced a social policy U-turn by the then-government.

‘Black Monday’ for commuters as public transport strikes set to continue across Paris

Macron's move to modernise France's retirement system is part of an election pledge to put the country on a solid financial footing — a mission that calls for painful changes in a country where many people have seen their spending power decline. 

Macron to hold crisis talks on pension reforms

The biggest labour unrest in years comes as France's economy is already dented by more than a year of weekly anti-government protests by “yellow vest” activists, and with Macron's popularity falling.

The mass strike closed schools Thursday, and hobbled commuters in Paris and its suburbs as well as other major cities through the weekend.

Many opted to take days off or to work from home, but thousands had no choice but to squeeze into perilously overfull suburban trains and metros whose numbers were slashed to a minimum.

Shows cancelled

Regional and international trains, including the Thalys and Eurostar, were also badly affected and many flights were cancelled on the first days of the strike.

Many tourists were left disappointed too, with the world-famous Louvre closing some rooms, and the Paris Opera and other theatres in the capital cancelling performances.

The chaos was set to continue on Monday, with the three main rail unions calling for the action to be stepped up ahead of another general strike and mass protests called for Tuesday.

“In the coming days, we recommend avoiding public transport,” said the website of the RATP public train, tram, bus and metro company on which some 10 million passengers in the larger Paris area rely daily to get to work.

Ten out of the RATP's 16 metro lines will be offline, four will offer limited service, and the only two driverless metros will run as usual but with a “risk of congestion” during peak hours. Inter-city rail operator SNCF cautioned of potentially “dangerous” overcrowding.

Philippe vowed to the Sunday newspaper Journal du Dimanche he was “determined” to pursue the reform — which will see 42 pension plans merged into one.

“If we do not make a far-reaching, serious and progressive reform today, someone else will do a really brutal one tomorrow,” said the head of government.

But the leader of the hardline CGT union, Philippe Martinez, told the paper: “We will keep up until the withdrawal” of the reform plan, which he said contained “nothing good”.

'Positive outcomes'

Under pressure, the government held talks with union representatives over the weekend, ahead of Sunday evening's emergency meeting.

Jean-Paul Delevoye, who Macron appointed to lead the pension reform project, is set to unveil the outcome of his months-long consultations on Monday, followed by Philippe announcing the final details of the proposed reform plan on Wednesday.

Delevoye has already angered unions by suggesting cancelling the more advantageous pensions enjoyed by some professions including public transport and utilities workers, sailors, notaries and even Paris Opera workers.

The proposals have brought thousands out on the streets in recent months, including train drivers, pilots, lawyers, doctors and police.

At least 800,000 took part in countrywide rallies Thursday, one of the biggest demonstrations of union strength in nearly a decade.

And on Saturday, some 23,500 people including “yellow vest” protesters marched against unemployment and waning spending power.

Philippe insisted the reform will “provide extremely positive outcomes for many people who are suffering injustices in the current system”, including women and farmers.

Businesses, however, feared for their bottom line with empty beds in many hotels and shopping hit by the transport stoppage on a key weekend in the run-up to Christmas.

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