A businessman from Gällivare, Sweden, disappeared without a trace in 2023 and appeared in Cyprus on December 6, 2024. He was arrested at the airport in Larnaca when he was about to fly to Thailand. After being transferred to a hospital clinic, he bribed a police officer and a lawyer and escaped by jumping out of a second-floor window.
He was recaptured less than 24 hours later and was sentenced to 18 months in prison in Cyprus for bribery and escape. He has now served his sentence. Swedish justice is to take over, but it may take a few extra days due to drone incidents at airports linked to the war in the Middle East.
' When the Gällivare businessman arrives in Sweden, he will first be informed of suspicions, then detention hearings await, and after that, Mikael Bäckström is keen to hold the first interrogations. ' The criminal suspicions have been specified and are now up to 38 points, though the specific allegations are not detailed. The number of suspected persons has also increased, but their identities and roles are unknown.
There are no answers yet on when an indictment can be ready and a trial can begin. The district court in Gällivare has set a date for the civil lawsuit brought by the bankruptcy trustee of the Gällivare businessman's former company. That hearing starts on May 27 in Gällivare.