The Local,
Sweden,9 Mar 12, 2012
Sweden's prime minister Fredrik Reinfeldt approved plans to build an arms factory in Saudi Arabia, revealed Sveriges Radio (SR) on Friday.
- Minister knew of Saudi arms factory: report (9 Mar 12)
- Outrage over Sweden's 'secret' Saudi arms plant (7 Mar 12)
- Sweden to help build Saudi arms plant: report (6 Mar 12)
News of
Sweden's participation in the arms factory build broke earlier this week, as
information from the classified 'Simoom' project was made public.
On Friday,
The Local reported that defense minister Sten Tolgfors, although having
previously denied this, turned out to have been aware of the factory, according
to reports in newspaper Svenska Dagbladet (SvD).
Now, the
latest developments indicate that Sweden's prime minister Fredrik Reinfeldt
also knew of the deal. SR revealed that Reinfeldt approved the arms factory at
a government meeting on 20 November, 2008.
"Fredrik
Reinfeldt was present, as chairman, as he usually is," said the Ministry
of Defense's secretary to SR .
"Odell,
Leijonborg, Larsson, Carlgren, Hägglund, Carlsson, Borg, Malmström, Sabuni,
Billström, Tolgfors and Björling were there too."
In other
words, as well as prime minister Reinfeldt and defense minister Tolgfors,
several representatives from the Liberal Party (Folkpartiet) and the Christian
Democrats were present at the meeting.
The
decision taken at the meeting on 20 November, 2008 is quoted by SR:
"FOI
is authorized to negotiate a project deal, as part of their research deal with
the Saudi authority concerned, of their participation as consultants in order
for Saudi Arabia to independently be able to create secure use of explosives in
the country, using Swedish knowledge and Swedish models, as well as renovating
and modifying existing anti-tank weapons."
The Left
Party is now prepared to demand defense minister Tolgfors's resignation,
according to SvD, and the Greens are demanding that the entire affair be
investigated by the Committee on the Constitution (Konstitutionsutskottet).
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