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Saab unions demand answers from CEO

Saab CEO and sole director, Victor Muller, will meet Wednesday with representatives of the four unions at its factory in Trollhättan in western Sweden, who are seeking answers as to how the company will ensure that wages are paid.

Saab unions demand answers from CEO

In both June and July were wage payments were delayed and in only two weeks August salaries are due, preceded by the payment of taxes and payroll charges.

A further issue on the agenda is when factory lines will begin rolling again, and when suppliers will receive their outstanding cash.

“The main issue is the short-term funding,” said Per Bränneby, shop steward for the Association of University Graduates/Graduate Engineers, one of the groups set to be included in the meeting with trade union colleagues from the metalworker’s union IF Metall, Unionen and Ledarna.

Aside from Muller, personnel director Johan Formgren is expected to attend.

Almost three months have passed since Muller held a big meeting of all employees in which he apologized and promised that they would not have to be involved in further turmoil.

But since then if anything, matters have got worse.

Money received as advance payments from China, new share issues and loans have not convinced their suppliers to restart deliveries. The Trollhättan plant has now been idle for over four months and according to Saab, it will restart on August 29th at the earliest.

The Swedish Enforcement Authority has threatened to instigate recovery proceedings next week to seek payment for unpaid debts to suppliers.

Per Bränneby however remains optimistic about the future.

“We know they’re working really hard on a solution and I have confidence that it will resolve itself,” he said.

He was reluctant to give his assessment of how Muller has managed Saab, but he noted that Muller’s dual roles as both CEO and chairman are not good in the long run.

“He is an entrepreneur and an ideas man, but I hope we can find a new CEO,” says Per Bränneby.

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CARS

Former Swedish Saab bosses appear in court

Swedish car maker Saab's former CEO Jan Åke Jonsson and the firm's former head lawyer Kristina Geers have appeared in court in Vänersborg in west Sweden, accused of falsifying financial documents shortly before the company went bankrupt in 2011.

Former Swedish Saab bosses appear in court
Saab's former CEO Jan Åke Jonsson. Photo: Karin Olander/TT
The pair are accused of falsifying the paperwork at the height of the Swedish company's financial difficulties at the start of the decade.
 
A third person – who has not been named in the Swedish media – is accused of assisting them by issuing false invoices adding up to a total of 30 million kronor ($3.55m).
 
According to court documents, the charges relate to the firm's business in Ukraine and the paperwork in question was signed just before former CEO Jan Åke Jonsson resigned.
 
Both Jonsson and Saab's former head lawyer Kristina Geers have admitted signing the papers but denied knowledge of the Ukranian firm implicated in the case.
 
All three suspects deny all the charges against them.
 

Saab's former head lawyer Kristina Geers. Photo:  Björn Larsson Rosvall/TT
 
Saab filed for bankruptcy at the end of 2011, after teetering on the edge of collapse for nearly two years.
 
Chief prosecutor Olof Sahlgren told the court in Vänersborg on Wednesday that the alleged crimes took place in March 2011, when Saab was briefly owned by the Dutch company Spyker Cars.
  
It was eventually bought by National Electric Vehicle Sweden (Nevs), a Chinese-owned company after hundreds of staff lost their jobs.
 
The car maker, which is based in west Sweden, has struggled to resolve serious financial difficulties by attracting new investors since the takeover.
 
In October 2014 it announced it had axed 155 workers, close to a third of its workforce.
 
Since 2000, Saab automobile has had no connection with the defence and aeronautics firm with the same name. It only produces one model today, the electric 9-3 Aero Sedan, mainly targeting the Chinese market.