Criticism of the Director-General of the Swedish Forest Agency for having acted contrary to the requirement for objectivity and impartiality in Chapter 1, Section 9 of the Instrument of Government

The Director-General of the Swedish Forest Agency provided his private email address to an external actor upon request. This actor then sent a message to that address, which was not registered by the Swedish Forest Agency but deleted by the Director-General.

The Parliamentary Ombudsman concludes from the investigation that the message in question constituted an official document. According to the Parliamentary Ombudsman, the Director-General’s statements on the incident cannot be understood in any way other than that his actions were aimed at circumventing public access to the documentation. Such action is contrary to the requirement for objectivity and impartiality laid down in the Instrument of Government. The Director-General is therefore criticised for his actions.