Former Swedish Enterprise Minister, Maud Olofsson, is to appear before a hearing of the country’s Constitutional Committee to review the government’s handling of Russian businessman Vladimir Antonov’s thwarted attempts to invest in Saab.
The emotive question of Antonov – whose bank was seized by the Lithuanian government – refuses to disappear with two Swedish Social Democratic Members of Parliament – Jorgen Hellman and Peter Johnsson – requesting the hearing.
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The Russian consistently struggled to see his bid to underwrite EUR30m (US$39m) in Saab be accepted by the European Investment Bank (EIB) despite being cleared by the Swedish National Debt Office (SNDO), but his subsequent exclusion has provoked a storm of controversy in Sweden.
A spokeswoman for the Constitutional Court in Stockholm confirmed to just-auto the hearing would take place on 23 April with a total of 17 MPs from Sweden’s eight political parties present.
“Of course she will not say anything about that [Antonov block] at the hearing – she will be very quiet,” Antonov’s former spokesman for the Russian’s Convers Group, Lars Carlstrom, told just-auto from Sweden.
“The SNDO approved it and they are part of the government. The government was very surprised about the SNDO decision to approve Antonov, so there was a bit of a clash between them, it was really messy.”
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By GlobalDataCarlstrom added both Social Democratic MPs who had called for the Constitutional Committee hearing are from the Trollhattan area – the site of Saab’s factory – which is now having to cope with an unemployment rate approaching 25% following the Swedish automaker’s bankruptcy.
“They [MPs] feel the government has not been acting very well in this matter,” said Carlstrom. “Therefore, they are doing this request to find out if there is more behind this.”
Saab is currently the subject of up to three bids – believed to be from Mahindra & Mahindra, Youngman and a Chinese/Japanese consortium – but is staggering under the colossal weight of a US$2bn debt.
The Constitutional Court spokeswoman added the hearing would be broadcast – in Swedish – on the Parliamentary website.
A spokeswoman for Maud Olofsson previously told just-auto the government had met the Russian but the matter was more for former Saab owner, General Motors and the European Investment Bank (EIB).
“What needs to take place with Antonov is that the EIB and GM need to say yes because they are the ones who have been opponents to him before,” she said.
“The Swedish government has never said yes or no.”
