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SECURITY

Millions ‘missing’ in wake of cash firm bankruptcy

Several Swedish retailers face closing down after hundreds of millions of kronor have disappeared in connection with the bankruptcy of secure cash transport firm Panaxia, responsible for transferring their takings.

Published: 18 September 2012 10:32 CEST
Millions 'missing' in wake of cash firm bankruptcy

According to Robert Dimmlich, the CEO of Swedish Gas Retailers Federation (Svensk Bensinhandel), 25 percent of their members, some 250 companies, have been using Panaxia:

“Reports show that the gas stations that have lost money all have lost between 70,000 and half a million kronor ($10,613 and $75,811),” Dimmlich told news agency TT.

The federation believes that several companies will have to file for bankruptcy.

”Some are very close. They could borrow money privately but that is a risk that many are not willing to take.”

Dimmlich said that at least ten of the gas stations are considering filing for bankruptcy in the near future.

Panaxia filed for bankruptcy in the beginning of September. The company had struggled to keep afloat after two top managers were charged for fraud and the company had made a loss of quarter of a billion kronor. Despite efforts to keep the company running, the board filed for bankruptcy on September 5th.

Two days after the bankruptcy, Panaxia’s board contacted the Economic Crime Authority (Ekobrottsmyndigheten), saying that large sums of money seemed to have disappeared from a company account.

And soon after, a Gävle ICA supermarket reported the company to the police on suspicion of aggravated fraud.

Panaxia, which was responsible for picking up cash from the shop and paying it into the retailers account, picked up 1,062,000 kronor on September 5th, the day the company filed for bankruptcy. The money was never transferred.

“We have been robbed by our security firm. That’s how it feels,” said retailer Jan Håkansson to newspaper Arbetarbladet.

Although unable to comment on any individual case, CEO Monica Hallin told Arbetarbladet that the recent disappearance of money will be added to the on-going fraud investigation against the two previous employees.

“The investigation will show where the money has gone. We went to the police ourselves saying ‘we suspect this has been going on for several years’. We want the Economic Crime Authority to investigate this as part of the previous suspicions,” she told the paper.

TT/The Local/rm

twitter.com/thelocalsweden

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SECURITY

Swedish Huawei ban is legal, court rules

A Swedish ban on Chinese telecoms company Huawei was confirmed in court on Tuesday, citing the country's security as a just reason for banning its equipment in a 5G rollout.

Published: 23 June 2021 07:14 CEST
Swedish Huawei ban is legal, court rules
Photo: AP Photo/Mark Schiefelbein

The administrative court in Stockholm ruled that the decision of the Swedish telecoms authority, PTS, to ban the use of equipment from Chinese companies Huawei and ZTE in a new Swedish 5G telecom network last October — a move that irked Beijing — was legal.

Equipment already installed must also be removed by January 1st, 2025.

“Sweden’s security is an important reason and the administrative court has considered that it’s only the security police and the military that together have a full picture when it comes to the security situation and threats against Sweden,” judge Ulrika Melin said in a statement.

Huawei denounced the ruling, but did not say whether it would appeal.

“We are of course noting that there has been no evidence of any wrongdoings by Huawei which is being used as basis for this verdict, it is purely based on assumption,” Kenneth Fredriksen, the company’s vice-president for Central, Eastern Europe and the Nordic region, told AFP.

Huawei will now evaluate the decision and the “see what kind of actions we will take to protect our rights,” Fredriksen added.

After the UK in the summer of 2020, Sweden became the second country in Europe and the first in the EU to explicitly ban Huawei from almost all of the network infrastructure needed to run its 5G network.

Beijing had warned that PTS’ decision could have “consequences” for the Scandinavian country’s companies in China, prompting Swedish telecom giant and Huawei competitor Ericsson to worry about retaliation.

“We will continue to be available to have constructive dialogues with Swedish authorities to see if we can find pragmatic ways of taking care of security and at the same time keeping an open and fair market like Sweden has always been,” Fredriksen said.

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