A documentary reveals that some employees of Securitas Sweden regularly buy sex and are suspected of having bribed for a contract with the city of Malmö.
A documentary by Uppdrag granskning on Swedish national television put in the spotlight the behavior of some employees at the security company Securitas. They are involved in a corruption case with the municipality of Malmö and regularly pay for sex.
The documentary reveals that at least four Securitas executives pay for sex. Two employees from Malmö municipality involved in the security contract also left because they went to an event in London paid for by Securitas despite their manager’s refusal.
Securitas is one of the world’s largest security companies with 345,000 employees in 46 countries.
The journalists investigated two employees, a salesperson and a top manager, for six months, shadowed their business trips, conferences, lunches and intercepted conversations. One of them is described as being responsible for the contract Securitas has with Swedish armed forces.
They talk about recurring visits to a brothel in Spain near the shore in Malaga in audios recorded by the journalists without their knowledge. One of them talks about a woman from Romania whom he visited at least three times and he describes as “world-class.”
“That type of behavior is completely unacceptable and personally I think it’s sad that in 2022 people and mainly men may think it’s okay to buy another person’s body. None individuals who have that behavior should work at Securitas,” the chief executive of the Sweden division Carl Dahlén said in the documentary. “I am deeply saddened and extremely disappointed. At the same time, it is important to distinguish that if individuals behave in this way, it is totally unacceptable, but it does not represent Securitas as a company.”
The two men have been fired by Securitas and reported to the police. According to Uppdrag granskning, these two men also bribed employees of the city of Malmö.
They arranged a trip to London for them. In the audio recordings, they are described as “bribe-takers.” There is no mention of paying for sex, but Securitas paid for their hotel stay, dinners and parties.
One man was part of the group which decided on the procurement contract that Securitas ended up winning last year, the other had an advisory role for the tender. The contract was worth about SEK 20 million (US$2 million) over four years to hire municipal security guards around the busy square of Möllevångstorget.
“We cannot say with certainty that the agreement was reached without undue private contact between our employees and Securitas,” says Gabriella Manieri, procurement manager in the city of Malmö. According to the official statement of the city, the two employees went to London despite their managers’ refusal, and withheld information about the trip.
According to municipality officials, they first denied it, then said it was a business trip but didn’t submit travel invoices nor declared working hours. Securitas was able to get confidential information to make the best offer, according to Uppdrag granskning.
An internal review was carried out during spring and the incident was reported to the police in early May to investigate whether crimes have been committed. The two employees resigned from their positions admitting to violating internal guidelines but denied having accepted bribes in exchange for information.
The contract with Securitas is not terminated, because there is no termination clause in these types of contracts, according to Malmö. It has however decided not to extend it at the end of the period in September.
Uppdrag granskning also had information that two other senior managers at Securitas usually go to brothels.
Twelve years ago, the former chief executive of Securitas was arrested for buying sexual services from a prostitute in Stockholm. After the scandal, the company said it would put an end to the misogynistic and sexist culture that prevailed in the company. The former CEO still worked for the company after being convicted in 2012, and then left.
Buying sex has been illegal in Sweden since 1999.
