The “Simoon” project leaves the Swedish minDéf on the floor
(BRUSSELS2) It was a banal sale of a military complex to Saudi Arabia that got the better of the Swedish Defense Minister. In other countries, the same minister would have been congratulated, even decorated. Not in Sweden. Swedish Defense Minister Sten Tolgfors tendered his resignation on Thursday (March 29) after a major controversy over Sweden's aid to a Saudi Arabian weapons program. Tolgfors has, according to Prime Minister Fredrik Reinfeldt, already given a sign of his desire to leave his post. He was "relieved of his duties" according to his own will... It is the minister responsible for infrastructure Catharina Elmsaeter-Svaerd who will take over the interim "defense" portfolio.
The defense secret that goes badly in the country of transparency
The scandal erupted when Swedish public radio revealed, on March 6, the existence of cooperation between the Swedish Defense Research Agency (FOI) and the Gulf countries. If, in theory, such an agreement is not illegal because there is no Swedish arms embargo vis-à-vis Saudi Arabia, it has however been strongly criticized by the press. It is above all the secret nature of this cooperation that was denounced, in a country where transparency is often presented as a priority. But the controversy turned more political, with the opposition saying Sweden should not sell arms to a dictatorship.
The "Simoon" project, a large-scale agreement...
Discreet at first, Minister Tolgfors then confirmed the existence of such cooperation, initiated in 2005 already by one of his predecessors, Leni Björklund (Social Democratic Party). This is not the first time that Sweden has sold arms to Saudi Arabia: last year Sweden exported 1,56 billion euros worth of defense equipment and Saudi Arabia was its second most big buyer. But the classified documents, revealed by the radio on March 6, show that the Simoom project “ pushes the limits of what is possible for the Swedish authorities ". The industrial project aimed, in fact, to help the Saudis to install a new arms factory, comprising 35 buildings in total, to build or repair anti-tank weapons (missiles), ammunition and other explosives, for example. Many Swedish companies were interested in the project, such as Saab, Ericsson or FMV.
... at the borders of legality
This "Simoom Project" - bearing the same name as this dry and hot wind in the Middle East - began in 2007 under the aegis of the FOI. The latter subsequently "handed over" to a private company created especially for the project (the Swedish Security Technology and Innovation or SSTI)), believing that the public agency would have been "legally hampered". In other words, it was about circumventing legal obstacles. This is how SSTI received last year approval from the Swedish Export Control and Non-Proliferation Agency (ISP) to start selling the necessary materials.
Prime Minister Fredrik Reinfeldt (of the conservative "moderaterna" party, like Tolgfors), also under pressure on this subject, implicitly recognized the ambiguity of the project. « When we sign bilateral agreements ; there is, as you know, no demand for democracy”. He "presumed“that Swedish laws had been observed. Yet JTF Director General Jan-Olof Lind informed the press last week that he had heard of a “suspected crime", following an internal investigation. In addition to the opposition demanding that Tolgfors be questioned by parliament despite his resignation, a preliminary investigation has been opened by Swedish judge Agneta Hilding Qvarnstroem.
