Parties | Strange real estate deals thicken: The Swedish Democrats transferred 8,500 euros to the buyer of Savonsolmu

The party transferred money to Kalle Kroon’s company, which bought properties in poor condition in Finland and left them to decay. Kroon’s son is a central politician of the Sweden Democrats in Stockholm. It was about renting election booths, the party explains.

HS news on Tuesday, how a businessman Kalle Kroonin companies have bought property holdings from different parts of Finland almost for free and left them to decay. At the same time, for example, residents in Pieksämäki have been in trouble when the hot water and electricity have been cut off from the house.

HS has investigated strange transactions together with the Swedish newspaper Dagens Nyheter. Kroon’s son, Sweden Democrat politician Gabriel Kroonhas been a responsible person in real estate companies run by his father in Finland.

Kroon was just elected to the Swedish parliament, but has left his seat to work as his party’s group leader in the city of Stockholm. He has assured that he will not actively participate in the activities of his father’s companies.

Read more: “Senseless” real estate deals were made in small towns, the traces lead to Sweden and Switzerland

Now of Dagens Nyheter The information obtained in Sweden tells about exceptional business connections between Kalle Kroon’s company and the party.

The document obtained by the editorial office proves that Stockholm’s Swedish Democrats transferred 93,000 kroner, or almost 8,500 euros, to the Kroon company at the end of September 2022.

The money ended up in the limited partnership Nordic Real Estate Management, i.e. the same company that has bought a dozen property holdings in different locations in Finland in a short period of time. For example, in Pieksämäki, the company acquired the majority of shares in the Säästökeskus property and the former Savonsolmu hotel.

Party gave DN an explanation that it had been about renting two wooden election cabins for a month. According to the party, these cabins were used during the fall campaigning in the center of Stockholm.

“We decided to trust the company when they offered the cheapest and best option. We are satisfied with the delivery. The management has not been familiar with the company’s transactions in general,” wrote the representative of the Swedish Democrats in Stockholm Linnea Vinge in his message to DN. He is the vice president of the party Henrik Vingen spouse.

According to DN’s information, in previous elections, the party’s Stockholm district has rented containers as polling booths for a monthly rent of around 4,000 kroner, or around 400 euros.

In his message to DN, Gabriel Kroon explains that he has not made a decision about renting because he is not currently a member of the district board.

“I want to underline that I am not involved and have no financial interests in the company that delivered the cabins,” he announces.

The Stockholm district of the Sweden Democrats sent DN an invoice for renting election booths.

Linnaeus Vinge sent an invoice to the department, according to which the cabins were rented to the district by the Finnish company Sahamäki Wood. However, the payment has gone to “Nordic Management”.

The Sahamäki Wood company was founded in May 2022 by Gabriel Kroon’s father, Kalle Kroon. Its address is in Hämeenlinna. There is an old lumber store at the same address, for which several payment defaults have been registered.

According to Vinge, the proposal to rent these election booths came from Kalle Kroon’s second son, who is also active in the politics of the Sweden Democrats.

Hair salon entrepreneur Anita Paunonen examined the notice board of the Pieksämäki Savings Center property by flashlight. The electricity is off when the bills haven’t been paid. Picture: Jukka Gröndahl / HS

in Finland Kroon’s property deals, which are perceived as absurd, have raised a lot of questions. Why buy a property, but then leave the payments and other responsibilities unhandled?

HS reported on Tuesday that the Swiss real estate giant Partners Group has been the second party to most of the deals. It has wanted to get rid of loss-making properties in small towns, and Kroon’s companies have been found as buyers for these locations.

“What Krooni’s final thought is, not the slightest idea. I can’t even imagine”, stated the seller’s advisor in the shops Pekka Salakka.

According to Salaka, the connection to Kroon came about through the Catella company, which acted as a manager in the transaction. So far, HS has not received any response from Catella to contact requests.

Kalle Kroon commented this week to HS and DN that money laundering suspicions related to Finnish real estate are unfounded.

of HS and according to DN’s reports, Krooni has not been convicted of any crime in Sweden or Finland.

In 2009, the Swedish Tax Agency investigated the real estate transactions of Kroon and his spouse at the time. During three years, 29 million kroner came into the couple’s private account without accounting. The authority suspected that bulldozing was involved, but Kalle Kroon explained that the money had come from art stores in Russia.

On Wednesday, Kroon did not want to comment to DN about the party’s money transfer, but announced that he would file a criminal complaint if the editorial calls him again.