June 7 in Swedish History

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  On June 7, 1988, Swedish Minister of Justice Anna-Greta Leijon is forced to step down from her post following the Ebbe Carlsson affair, a major political scandal in Sweden. Photo: Frankie Fouganthin

• June 7 in Swedish History
  1988: 'The Ebbe Carlsson Affair' Swedish Minister of Justice Anna-Greta Leijon (born 1939) is forced to step down from her post following the Ebbe Carlsson affair, a major political scandal in Sweden.
  The affair came to public knowledge on June 1, 1988, when daily Expressen revealed that journalist, publisher and former secretary of the Swedish Government Ebbe Carlsson was carrying out an independent and illegal investigation into the assassination of Prime Minister Olof Palme, secretly supported by Leijon. The affair was concluded in 1992, when Carlsson was being fined for smuggling.

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  Swedish journalist and publisher Ebbe Carlsson (1947-1992). Image source: SVT

• Long before the case landed in criminal court, the constitutional committee of the parliament launched an investigation of Carlsson’s role, and its hearings were broadcast live on Swedish Television. The affair became embarrassing to the government, appearing to expose an “old boys culture,” encompassing people in the senior ranks of the Social Democratic Party and in the police—most notably then former Stockholm county administrative chief of police, Hans Holmér, who was the first Chief of the special investigation unit into the assassination of the Swedish Prime Minister Olof Palme. By 1992 Ebbe Carlsson (1947-1992), was dying of AIDS.

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