back towards her. ‘According to Exodus thirty-five, verse two, we should kill everyone who works on a Sunday. And Deuteronomy twenty-one, verse eighteen onwards tells us what to do when a child is disobedient – they’re to be stoned to death outside the gates of the city.’ She looked up at him. ‘Do you think it has to be the gates of the city? Wouldn’t outside in the garden do just as well?’
Valter chortled.
‘There are loads of them,’ Annika said. ‘If you go to the barber and get your hair and beard trimmed, you’re committing a sin, according to Leviticus nineteen, verse twenty-seven. If you swear, the whole congregation has to stone you to death, Leviticus twenty-four, verses fifteen and sixteen. And this one’s my favourite – listen. “When a man sells his daughter into slavery, she shall not go out as a male slave may.”’ She gazed at him thoughtfully. ‘Mind you, she did say a few things that are worth checking up … Do you know how to get hold of information on Swedish companies?’
While Valter looked for details of Ingemar Lerberg’s business activities, Annika read up about his resignation. What if the woman was right? She scrolled down the list of search results for ingemar lerberg tax.
The first articles about his dodgy tax affairs had appeared on a Tuesday morning in November seven and a half years ago. Several of the big media companies seemed to have gained access to the information simultaneously: the big tabloids, the main morning paper and Swedish Television. Sjölander had dealt with the story for the
Evening Post
. The headline was stark and loud:
TAX RAID ON SENIOR POLITICIAN
Party secretary: ‘We take all forms of criminality very seriously’
She skimmed the article, trying to read between the lines and see through the fanciful phrasing. ‘Tax raid’ meant that the tax office had requested Lerberg’s accounts for investigation. It happened to most limited companies at regular intervals.
The party secretary’s quote was accurate, no doubt, but he had been talking about the party’s attitude towards crime in general, not Ingemar Lerberg. How else could he have replied to the journalist’s question? ‘We are relaxed about all forms of criminality’?
No one in the party leadership appeared to have expressed an opinion about Lerberg, either for or against.
Day two had seen the media coverage escalate in the expected manner:
Senior Politician Reported to Police Prosecutor Examining Tax Fraud
To the average newspaper reader, Ingemar Lerberg’s fate was now sealed. The police had been brought in, a prosecutor was looking into the case, and all that remained was a severe custodial sentence. The fact that he hadn’t already resigned as a Member of Parliament seemed incomprehensible.
But when Annika took a metaphorical step back from the text, it was obvious that Lerberg had been reported to the police by some concerned citizen with no particular insight into the case, an Angry Taxpayer, who thought it was disgraceful that well-known people cheated at the expense of ordinary citizens. The prosecutor would have had to weigh up the evidence to see whether it was worth setting up so much as a preliminary investigation.
She did another search.
Day three: the dramaturgically correct third act:
Senior Politician Writes Exclusively About Tax Fraud
Ingemar Lerberg had met the criticism head-on in a self-penned piece published in the
Evening Post
. Like most people under pressure, he had written too much, almost to the point of jeopardizing his legal case, and the ultimate effect was to make him look guilty. He explained various points in so much detail that they became baffling and dull, and all his arguments came across as excuses.
On day four, the story of Ingemar Lerberg’s ‘tax fraud’ concluded as expected: the politician resigned and stepped down from his parliamentary seat with immediate effect.
Annika sighed. Why did people in
Valter chortled.
‘There are loads of them,’ Annika said. ‘If you go to the barber and get your hair and beard trimmed, you’re committing a sin, according to Leviticus nineteen, verse twenty-seven. If you swear, the whole congregation has to stone you to death, Leviticus twenty-four, verses fifteen and sixteen. And this one’s my favourite – listen. “When a man sells his daughter into slavery, she shall not go out as a male slave may.”’ She gazed at him thoughtfully. ‘Mind you, she did say a few things that are worth checking up … Do you know how to get hold of information on Swedish companies?’
While Valter looked for details of Ingemar Lerberg’s business activities, Annika read up about his resignation. What if the woman was right? She scrolled down the list of search results for ingemar lerberg tax.
The first articles about his dodgy tax affairs had appeared on a Tuesday morning in November seven and a half years ago. Several of the big media companies seemed to have gained access to the information simultaneously: the big tabloids, the main morning paper and Swedish Television. Sjölander had dealt with the story for the
Evening Post
. The headline was stark and loud:
TAX RAID ON SENIOR POLITICIAN
Party secretary: ‘We take all forms of criminality very seriously’
She skimmed the article, trying to read between the lines and see through the fanciful phrasing. ‘Tax raid’ meant that the tax office had requested Lerberg’s accounts for investigation. It happened to most limited companies at regular intervals.
The party secretary’s quote was accurate, no doubt, but he had been talking about the party’s attitude towards crime in general, not Ingemar Lerberg. How else could he have replied to the journalist’s question? ‘We are relaxed about all forms of criminality’?
No one in the party leadership appeared to have expressed an opinion about Lerberg, either for or against.
Day two had seen the media coverage escalate in the expected manner:
Senior Politician Reported to Police Prosecutor Examining Tax Fraud
To the average newspaper reader, Ingemar Lerberg’s fate was now sealed. The police had been brought in, a prosecutor was looking into the case, and all that remained was a severe custodial sentence. The fact that he hadn’t already resigned as a Member of Parliament seemed incomprehensible.
But when Annika took a metaphorical step back from the text, it was obvious that Lerberg had been reported to the police by some concerned citizen with no particular insight into the case, an Angry Taxpayer, who thought it was disgraceful that well-known people cheated at the expense of ordinary citizens. The prosecutor would have had to weigh up the evidence to see whether it was worth setting up so much as a preliminary investigation.
She did another search.
Day three: the dramaturgically correct third act:
Senior Politician Writes Exclusively About Tax Fraud
Ingemar Lerberg had met the criticism head-on in a self-penned piece published in the
Evening Post
. Like most people under pressure, he had written too much, almost to the point of jeopardizing his legal case, and the ultimate effect was to make him look guilty. He explained various points in so much detail that they became baffling and dull, and all his arguments came across as excuses.
On day four, the story of Ingemar Lerberg’s ‘tax fraud’ concluded as expected: the politician resigned and stepped down from his parliamentary seat with immediate effect.
Annika sighed. Why did people in
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