Commentary: The Swedish monopoly locks out some of the importers under investigation for bribery

According to Swedish radio and press the monopoly retailer Systembolaget has decided to act against some of the importers/suppliers in Sweden who are under investigation for having bribed personnel at the monopoly. The three importers aginst which the Systembolaget take action are VinTrädgårdh that will not be allowed to supply any products at all in the future to Systembolaget, and Philipsson & Söderberg and Åkesson, both of which will have some of their current products blocked by the monopoly. A representative for the Systembolaget says that the wine producers who are hit by having their wines blocked are welcome back if they work with other importers. Systembolaget’s actions seems (again) a bit odd and premature, just like when they fired their employees suspected for taking bribes before any court ruling was made that established any guilt or not. None of the three suppliers have so far been tried and convicted in the legal process.

The lawyer representing Systembolaget said in an interview with Ekot (Swedish radio): “If later it turns out that the individual action did not represent bribery may not be of any importance. This type of actions are anyway against the agreements between the Systembolaget and the suppliers”. “Not important”... well it certainly is for the importers and for the wine producers. But with that reasoning it also means that Systembolaget refers to a private agreement that no outsider has any insight into (and cannot question the validity of)…

Cannot help wondering how Systembolaget decided which of the wine producers should have their products blocked. Purely by hazard or did they evaluate who had drawn the most benefits from the alleged bribes?

One can also not help wondering why the other importers who are involved in the investigation have not been hit with the measures. For example, the importer V&S Vin & Sprit AB who has five employees under investigation for bribery. They happen to be owned by the government, just like Systembolaget and is by far the largest supplier.

If there have been bribes it is certainly deplorable and immoral, but the most sad thing in this story seems to be the actions of Systembolaget. But then again, there is an easy way to avoid this kind of scandals in the future: abolish the monopoly.

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