Saab has missed the first deadline to pay outstanding money to suppliers, triggering an investigation that could see its bank accounts frozen.
The automaker owes around SEK4m (US$631,000) to Kongsberg Automotive and consultants Infotiv, but the Kronofogden debt agency says no cash has been received to settle the accounts.
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“We have started our investigation,” a Kronofogden spokesman in Sweden told just-auto. “Saab has not paid the money yet, that is why we started. The whole investigation will probably take a month.
“We have not frozen the bank account yet – we have asked the banks about their [Saab] current accounts. We will have tomorrow an answer maybe.”
Saab is declining to reveal what the exact situation with Kronofogden is, except to confirm it knew the agency had gone on record as talking about “initiating that process.”
However, Saab did note it was in dialogue with Kronofogden concerning what it referred to as “cases” with the agency.
“We are going to deal with the situation to the best of our ability,” a Saab spokeswoman told just-auto from Sweden. “Beyond that, it is between us and Kronofogden.
“Of course we will do our best to keep things running. Our aim is to get back to regular production.”
A Kronofogden enforcement officer in Gothenburg yesterday (16 August) told just-auto if not enough money was found to settle the debt, the agency could start a process where suppliers could go to Court.
“Then it will be a very fast process in Court to bankruptcy – it won’t take a lot of time,” the officer said.
