Legal Scandals  
 

Table of Contents.

The
Brothel Tangle (The Geijer Affair),1976.

Literature: The power, the men, the cover-up .Story of a brothel scandal in 1976.
Author: Deanne Rauscher & Janne Mattson , 2004.

Probably one of the most controversial documents ever published in Sweden .

Like many others, I took part of media's reporting about The Brothel Tangle (The Geijer Affair) in the 70's. What I then thought was most remarkable in this story was the suspect  Lennart Geijer. Could the country's Minister of Justice be a buyer of sexual services? Once the Social Democrat's denial machine came up to speed I was convinced that the whole story was a fake. When Rauscher / Mattsson published their book in 2004, I read some reviews - which were essentially negative. Nothing new beneath the sun.



The Brothel Tangle is a display of humiliation. The exploitation of the then 14 year old
girl Miss Eva Bengtsson is hard to understand to a normal sensed individual. Bengtsson was placed in a special lodging for young girls (Stockholm) who suffered various problems e.g. drug abuse. Nevertheless she was able to engage in prostitution for a long time. She was paid in drugs for her service. The head of the brothel, Doris Hopp, had already in this way qualified for a long prison sentence .That her sentence still was mild must be considered as a legal scandal.

     
             Doris Hopp                                Martin Bormann                                 Doris Hopp
              (1930 - 1998)                                 (1900 - ????)                                   (1930 - 1998)



It's beneficial to Rauscher / Mattsson that they featured the naked truth in the way they did. One can always hope that the book had a dampening effect on the worst excesses of prostitution. That prostitution to this day is at a high level in Stockholm most observers seem to agree on.

In the book's epilogue the authors allow a number of key persons to express themselves. I choose to reproduce Säpo's Chief Operating Officer
Mr. Olof Frånstedt :

"
It is sad that some people have gotten the idea that they are above the laws and standards that apply to the common man. When they unchecked manage to cross certain barriers they may get the idea that they are untouchable at the heights they are. That they can say and do things that they feel at the spur of the moment. That they, in their complacency feel that they are too smart to be discovered. We know from experience that they can be both ministers - even prime ministers - and judges, prosecutors, Police Officers, Ombudsmen of Justice, Generals . In one way or another one risks sooner or later to lose one's foothold and fall flat to the ground. But then it's usually too late to come to understanding and act upon one's original sense of responsibility and good character."
(Frånstedt has in 2013 published the book Spy Hunter - Among Agents, Terrorists And Affairs.)

At the time when the Brothel Tangle was discovered purchase of sexual services wasn't a crime in Sweden (nowadays it is). Pretty soon, investigators discovered that Doris Hopp had a number of very young girls in her stalls. Some were only 14 or 15 years old. Sexual exploitation of such a young person falls under the legal scope fornication with children- which was and still is a serious crime (may sentence to 4 years in prison). It's this crime Frånstedt refers to in his statement above.

The young criminologist Mr.
Leif GW Persson worked for the National Police Board (NPB) in 1976. He had made himself a name within the organization by introducing new thinking and new work methods. In Rauscher / Mattson's book there is a picture where he is sitting together with the Chief of the NPB, Mr. Carl Persson.

 

 GW became aware of the Brothel Tangle and that Lennart Geijer was suspected for the purchase of sexual services. Carl Persson felt obliged to inform Prime Minister Olof Palme about the suspicions against Geijer and a number of other persons.

 
                 Olof Palme                                    Martin Bormann
                (1927 - 1986)                                    (1900 - ????)

The formal allegations against the individuals concerned were based on concerns about national security. Säpo had a good insight in the reconnaissances against Doris Hopp's brothel and therefore a good mode of proof. Of course, they were forced to respond because it was discovered that Eastern States diplomats used the same brothel. The risk that customers, like Geijer, could be blackmailed was obvious. Moreover, The Spy Colonel, Stig Wennerström, from the 60's (he spied on behalf of the Soviet Union), was in recent memory. Carl Persson wrote a memorandum that identified the suspected brothel customers. It was handed over to Palme - who in turn chose to lock the memorandum into a safe.

After the Social Democrat's election defeat, in the fall of 1976, Palme handed over the memorandum to the new Prime Minister, Torbjörn Fälldin .



In November 1977, the story had reached the digging Dagens Nyheter (DN) journalist Mr. Peter Bratt. He had presented what he knew of the Geijer case to the editorial board. Would you or would you not publish the allegations regarding Geijer? Bratt knew that rival colleague, Expressen (major newspaper), also was news on track. It was only a matter of time before the news would erupt. Bratt definitely wanted to be the first one with this scoop. He is now looking for the definitive confirmation that the Geijer Affair takes its accuracy. He lifts the handset and dials Leif GW Persson. He asks if GW can confirm the story. GW answers "yes". Then DN's printing presses started roll. DN's front page notes that Geijer is a
security risk. The unlikely happens now. Palme and Geijer denies Bratt's story. DN is forced to publish an apology. Geijer sues DN for libel. He wins the case and was awarded damages of 50 000 SEK (7 300 U.S. dollars). Bratt reveals his source, Leif GW Persson, which forces GW to terminate his employment with the NPB. Bratt, in his capacity of a journalist, was put on hold for a long time. Expressen later managed, through legal procedures, to get access to the (by now) well known memorandum. It appeared that Geijer's name was included. Not only that. The new prime minister, Torbjörn Fälldin, was also included. At a press conference Fälldin was forced to deny. The fact that his own name was included in the memorandum he considered to be proof enough that everything was a lie. The denials presented by Palme, Geijer and Fälldin should therefore be weighed against Olof Frånstedt's statement (above). I think that Frånstedt's statement is credible because of the simple reason that he had nothing to gain by delivering a lie concerning the mentioned ministers .

After completing the NPB GW grabbed the opportunity to change his career. Authorship attracted. His debut novel
Grisfesten (The Pigs Feast), in 1978, became a bestseller. I have read the book and is prepared to salute this work. Entertainment is guaranteed.

Starting point of the book is a robbery occurring on May 13, 1977, at Post Office 6 , Dalagatan 13 , Stockholm (oddly enough, I knew a person who worked at the Post Office 6 at that time). The Police reconnaissances leads, unexpectedly, to the Säpo staff member Kjell Göran Hedberg (fictitious character). The investigators found that Hedberg worked as a bodyguard for the minister Honest Harry at the time of the robbery. Honest Harry had ordered Hedberg to give him a ride to a prostitute who had her business at an address only a few blocks away from Post Office 6. The investigators theorized that Hedberg performed the robbery while the Minister was fulfilling his duties with the prostitute. When the Minister later was confronted regarding the suspicions against Hedberg he gave him alibi for the whole working day. According to the rules the bodyguard would be at arm's length from the Minister throughout the shift. The Minister affirmed that this had been the case.

 
It requires no great imagination of the reader to understand that the novel figure Honest Harry is Lennart Geijer. The Pigs Feast becomes GW's gruesome revenge on Geijer after the injustice he had suffered in connection with parting from the NPB. When GW had published The Pigs Feast he had established himself as a combatant in the
political Vendetta .

In the section
Catrine da Costa I expose the continuation of the political Vendetta.

Vendetta
Vendetta (of lat . Vindicta ,"Revenge"), a Corsican term for blood vengeance. Formerly common throughout Italy and the Balkans, and is still present today in Corsica, Sicily, Calabria, Serbia and Albania. (Source: Wikipedia).

When people feel they have been wronged they seek
rehabilitation. If the violation includes criminal elements, it is common to seek rehabilitation through our legal system. It may then happen that the person seeking rehabilitation would be wronged by the system. Most often, he/she then has been dismissed by the system as liar, mentally ill , etc.. It can also happen that people are prosecuted and convicted on false premises (miscarriage of justice). Those wronged in this way have usually no chance when seeking rehabilitation in our legal system. When the system has collapsed the person wronged, in some cases, will  consider the Vendetta as a last resort to rehabilitation. I want this to be clear:
The Vendetta has no place in a civilized society. When people seek this medieval form of justice they then deviate from all democratic principles. They decline everything that has to do with human rights. In short: they let the idiocy replace common sense. Vendetta in Sweden appears mainly in political terms. The method is then that the combatants should manipulate the representatives of the legal system to achieve their purposes. I define this as a political Vendetta .