Two top Swedish oil executives are facing prosecution in their home country for aiding and abetting war crimes in Sudan.
After years of preliminary investigation, the Swedish prosecutor’s office announced on Thursday that it had decided to indict the two suspects.
They are accused of complicity in war crimes committed by the Omar al-Bashir regime in Sudan between 1999 and 2003. They are said to have been motivated to ensure the company continued operations in southern Sudan.
The investigation into the case has been going on for eleven years.
According to the announcement of the prosecutor’s office, the two suspects had a “decisive influence” on the activity of the Swedish oil company in the African country.
As part of the indictment, a precautionary seizure of $ 160 million is requested from the company’s coffers. This, it is explained, is the company’s net profit from the sale of its subsidiary in Sudan in 2003.
The company, which then had the distinctive title Lundin Oil and today is called Lundin Energy, characterizes the accusations against it as non-existent.
The two members of its management strongly deny the accusations against them and emphasize that they acted with the full support of the company.
The decision of the prosecutor’s office is incomprehensible, notes one of the two executives of the company in a corporate press release of Ludin.
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