The Swedish Economic Crime Authority is an authority dedicated to combating economic crime, with specialist competence in analysis and investigation.
The Authority has national responsibility for preventing economic crime together with other actors. It is also responsible for coordination and other measures against economic crime, including the development of methods to combat economic crime more effectively, following and analysing crime trends, following the application of the law and drawing up proposals for measures. The Authority has also been instructed to provide information on economic crime to other authorities, municipalities, industry, organisations and the general public.
The Authority is responsible for criminal intelligence operations, investigation and criminal proceedings in cases of economic crime in the three big-city counties as well as the counties of Halland, Blekinge and Gotland. The Authority also has national responsibility for combating crime against the Act (2005:377) on Penalties for Market Abuse involving Trade with Financial Instruments and crime involving EU fraud.
The Swedish Economic Crime Authority also handles cases that should be handled by the Authority with the primary consideration that they concern qualified economic crime with national spread or international links, or are of a nature of principle or great scope.
The Director-General heads the Authority and acts as Director of Public Prosecution on prosecution issues. The Head of the Authority is assisted by a secretariat with the following units and heads of units:
• Management Secretariat (Ledningssekretariatet) (Director of Planning and Coordination)
• Public Prosecutions Unit (Överåklagarenheten) (Director of Public Prosecution)
• Legal and Development Unit (Rätts- och utvecklingsenheten) (Senior Legal Officer)
• Accounts Unit (Ekonomienheten) (Director of Finance)
• Human Resources Unit (Personalenheten) (Director of Human Resources)
• Economic Crime Office (Ekobrottskansliet) (Chief of Police)
The Director of Public Prosecution is the Director-General’s deputy. The Head of the Economic Crime Office at the Swedish National Criminal Police is subordinate to and responsible together with the Director-General for the police activity.
The operational activity is conducted at seven chambers for economic crime, one crime assessment office, three operational police units and three operational service units. The investigation units located in Visby, Karlskrona, Kristianstad, Halmstad, Borås and Skövde are linked to the chambers for economic crime.
A chamber for economic crime is headed by a chief prosecutor who leads the activity. The chief prosecutor has a deputy chief public prosecutor. A chamber commissioner assists the head of the chamber and leads the police activity in the chamber. Each chamber for economic crime has economic prosecutors, economic police officers, economic auditors and experts. Tax-crime investigators at the Swedish National Tax Boards’ tax-crime units work at the chambers for economic crime and assist with investigations. The different categories have clear professional roles, work closely together and contribute their special competence to the investigations.
The operational police units assist the chambers for economic crime with criminal intelligence services, surveillance and secret means of coercion. The operational service units are responsible, through economic secretaries and administrative staff, for the operational and administrative service to the chambers for economic crime and the operational police units.
The Swedish Economic Crime Authority’s case processes
Every year, the Swedish Economic Crime Authority handles over 4000 cases. In 2008, the number of suspected crimes rose to 30,000. The Authority takes over a number of reports and suspected crimes reported to the Swedish Prosecution Authority that require the specialist competence of the Swedish Economic Crime Authority.
Economic crime is multifaceted, which means that it is detected in different ways and contexts. Most of the reported suspected crimes are handled by the supervisory authorities. The Swedish Tax Agency primarily reports tax crime and the Swedish Financial Supervisory Authority reports crime in the financial markets. The work of the receivers in bankruptcy also leads to a large number of suspected crimes being reported to the Swedish Economic Crime Authority. The National Criminal Intelligence Service at the Swedish Economic Crime Authority has developed its cooperation with other authorities in recent years, leading to an increase in reported crimes from the National Criminal Intelligence Service.
The Swedish Economic Crime Authority’s operational activity is intelligence-led. Reported suspected crimes place different demands on the focus and methods for fighting crime. Tax crimes and false accounting can range from simple cases of one suspected crime and one suspect to highly complex cases with a large number of suspected crimes and suspects. Market abuse crimes and EU fraud require specialist knowledge and methods of investigation.
The Swedish Economic Crime Authority’s preliminary investigations are always led by the prosecutor who draws up the terms of reference and a plan for conducting the preliminary investigations.
For the investigations to be conducted as efficiently as possible, the leader of the preliminary investigation should always consider issues such as:
• Limits of the preliminary investigation
• Bans on trading activity and consultancy prohibitions
• Forfeiture and extended forfeiture
Special investigation routines have been developed for different types of cases to ensure that the investigation and criminal proceedings for suspected crimes are carried out efficiently, uniformly and legally. Reports are handled in the first instance by the Crime Assessment Office (Mängdbrottsenheten). Reports that are not immediately written off are sorted into one of three case categories: crime assessment cases, project cases and particularly demanding cases. The crime assessment cases are handled by the crime assessment office, while the other two categories are assigned to the chambers for economic crime.
Crime assessment cases are cases that can be investigated and for which legal proceedings can be taken within a limited investigation period. The cases are investigated according to a standardised investigation model. The cycle time, i.e., the time from report to a decision on criminal proceedings or writing the case off, shall be a maximum of 50 days.
Project cases require a greater number of investigation measures than crime assessment cases but are still of a nature that can essentially be handled according to set routines. These cases may require questioning of four or five persons and searches of premises. Deprivation of liberty may also be relevant. The cycle time for these cases shall be a maximum of 180 days.
Particularly demanding cases refer to complex crime that normally needs to be investigated by a special working party led by the prosecutor. Investigations into black labour can often be so extensive and complex that they are classified as particularly demanding. The cycle time for particularly demanding cases shall be a maximum of 365 days.
The Swedish Economic Crime Authority’s case processes lead to more suspected crimes being investigated with greater uniformity and shorter cycle times while maintaining legal security.