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SCANDAL

King knew of gangster meetups: Lettström

King Carl XVI Gustaf was aware of friend Anders Lettström's attempts to silence the scandals described in the book The Unwilling Monarch (Den motvillige monarken), Lettström claimed in tramscripts of tape recordings published by newspaper Aftonbladet.

King knew of gangster meetups: Lettström

On Lettström’s initiative, Daniel Webb, acting for well-known criminal Milan Sevo, tried to get sex club owner Mille Markovic to deny the information published in the scandalous book about the Swedish king.

As well as a denial from Markovic, Lettström wanted to buy the alleged scandalous pictures of the king at Markovic’s club, reported Aftonbladet.

Lettström’s silencing attempts are said to have gone on for some months, without a deal being struck with Markovic.

The king publically renounced Lettström’s actions in an interview with news agency TT in May. When asked if the king had known about Anders Lettström’s contacts with Stockholm’s criminal underworld, the king responded with a definite no.

In tape recordings made by Daniel Webb, however, Lettström claims to have informed the king of his ongoings.

“After our meeting on Kungsholmen I spoke with the king that evening, and told him that you’d said Mille was willing to deny, and that he wanted to be paid for it. You didn’t know how much, but thought it would be between one and two million,” Lettström said to Webb in the recording.

Lettström repeats that he has spoken to the king about contacting Markovic once more in the same conversation.

“If we paid Mille for his denial, he would make sure that some of his sources denied it too. That’s what our deal entailed, and I’ve mentioned it to the king,” said Lettström according to Aftonbladet.

The recordings of Lettström’s conversations with Webb haven’t previously been published.

However, Lettström maintains that the king was unaware of his contacts with Daniel Webb, and claims the sound material is manipulated.

“It’s like a photo montage, only with sound. It’s taken out of context,” said Lettström to Aftonbladet.

The company Voxanalys and British experts on sound analysis have, acting on Aftonbladet’s behalf, investigated the recordings. The Swedish and British experts both judged the recordings free from manipulation, modification or cuts from different recordings.

The court’s information officer Bertil Ternert was unwilling to comment further on the matter, stating that information about these recordings has already been published and commented.

Ternert added that an allegation made by Lettström on the recordings, namely that the king’s telephone was being tapped by the National Bureau of Investigation (Rikskriminalpolisen), was “remarkable”, according to Aftonbladet.

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ANGELA MERKEL

Merkel’s conservative party moves to clean up after ‘mask affair’

Chancellor Angela Merkel's conservatives are trying to end corruption allegations roiling their ranks over mask procurement, ordering MPs to declare all financial gains related to the pandemic days ahead of key regional elections.

Merkel's conservative party moves to clean up after 'mask affair'
Angela Merkel on Tuesday. Photo: DPA

A lawmaker from Merkel’s CDU party and another from its CSU Bavarian sister party have been accused of profiting directly or indirectly from mask contracts.

In a move to clean house, the conservative CDU-CSU alliance on Wednesday ordered all of its MPs to declare any financial benefits gained from the coronavirus pandemic by 6pm on Friday.

All members of the CDU-CSU parliamentary group will have to make “a declaration that no such benefits were obtained in the context of the Covid-19 pandemic”, says the letter addressed to the lawmakers, dated March 10th.

READ ALSO: What you need to know about Germany’s face mask scandal

This declaration must take into account any financial benefits “from the purchase or sale of medical products such as protective equipment, testing and vaccination supplies, from the provision of contacts, from the forwarding of offers or enquiries, or from the provision of support or advice to third parties”, the letter seen by AFP says.

In the event that such a declaration cannot be made, MPs are urged to report directly to two senior party members.

CSU lawmaker Georg Nüsslein was last month placed under investigation for corruption following accusations that he accepted around €600,000 ($715,000) to lobby for a mask supplier.

A similar controversy has embroiled CDU lawmaker Nikolas Löbel, whose company pocketed 250,000 euros in commissions for acting as an intermediary in mask contracts.

Löbel has resigned from his MP post and Nüsslein has said he will leave after September’s elections, with the deals drawing scathing criticism across the political spectrum.

Amid the fallout from the scandal dubbed the “mask affair” by German media, the conservatives said they had “a responsibility to present and clarify such matters in a completely transparent manner”.

The scandal has led to a drop in the CDU’s popularity ratings just days ahead of two key regional elections in Baden-Württemberg and Rhineland-Palatinate.

The state elections will be a litmus test ahead of Germany’s general election on September 26th – the first in over 15 years not to feature outgoing chancellor Merkel.

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