Earlier this year, two case managers were arrested on suspicion that they were accepting bribes to let people stay in Sweden.

The Swedish Migration Board (Migrationsverket) is investigating a number of suspected fraud cases, after several of its employees are believed to have sold residence permits.

“The ongoing bribery investigation is going to grow. I’ll be looking at people both inside and outside of the Migration Board,” state prosecutor Nils-Eric Schultz told the Dagens Nyheter newspaper (DN) in March.

The latest involves a case manager who himself went through his mother’s paper work, in contradiction to conflict of interest policy. His boss later signed the recommendation that she be allowed to stay, a recommendation written in full by the woman’s son.

It took the employee six weeks to process his mother’s application.

“When you consider that we have a case turnover rate of about six to seven months, it took a very short time,” Migration Board spokesman Fredrik Bengtsson told Sverige Radio (SR) on Monday.

While the investigation continues, the suspect’s boss has been reprimanded for professional misconduct and fined 24,000 kronor ($3,600).

In January, when the first two arrests were made, Migration Board Director General Anders Danielsson announced that the agency would review its procedures and rules to prevent similar situations from arising in the future.

“I take the suspicions that employees at the Swedish Migration Board are guilty of bribery very seriously,” he said in a statement.

“It’s important that police and prosecutors now investigate the suspicions in order to bring clarity to the matter.”

Specifically, he said the agency was looking at streamlining communication with the Swedish Tax Agency (Skatteverket) and implementing limits on the types of searches employees can carry out on Migration Board computer systems.

TT/The Local/at

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