The risk of corruption is so obvious, and that the money is being misused is obvious to us who have worked with these issues, says Wilo Abdulle Osman, who has worked with return issues in Somalia, to the radio.
According to Ekot, the agreement concluded in December 2023 led to a conflict between Sweden and Somalia. Among other things, when Sida refused to pay out the money to a fund with clear links to the Prime Minister.
The payments of 100 million kronor in aid were delayed and eventually 40 million was paid to a fund at the World Bank and 60 million to a project under the UN agency UNDP but with clear links to the Prime Minister's office.
Used as a bribe
After the revelation, the Center Party has called the Minister for Development Cooperation Benjamin Dousa (The Moderate Party) to the Foreign Affairs Committee, reports SVT News.
If it is true that the Swedish government has made a secret agreement with the Somali government, it is very serious, it is hair-raising, says the Center Party's foreign policy spokesperson Anna Lasses to SVT.
She says that aid should go to things like children's schooling, democracy projects and food.
It should not be used as a bribe to throw people out of Sweden who for one reason or another one does not want to have here.
New to Sweden
Benjamin Dousa tells TT that the use of aid policy as a tool to get a functioning return in place is an important part of the reorientation of Swedish aid.
It's new to Sweden, but in Denmark they've been doing it for decades. I hope we can make more such agreements. It's about people who either have been denied asylum or non-Swedish citizens who have committed serious crimes here, he says.
Regarding the risk of corruption, Dousa says that it is always a major problem when it comes to aid, but that they take the fight against corruption "very seriously".
Should we notice that this money is slipping away, we will act very quickly and decisively.
