Sweden data scandal costs two ministers their jobs

STOCKHOLM: Two Swedish ministers lost their jobs yesterday over a huge leak of sensitive data that has rocked the fragile centre-left government.

But Prime Minister Stefan Lofven vowed he would be staying on despite speculation he could call a snap election.

Interior Minister Anders Ygeman, a political heavyweight, is standing down ‘at his own request’, Lofven said at a press conference, adding that Infrastructure Minister Anna Johansson will also step down.

Ygeman reportedly knew about the leak from the national transport agency, which made the private data of millions of citizens accessible abroad, but failed to tell the prime minister.

The scandal has blown up in recent weeks after it emerged that an entire database on Swedish drivers’ licences was made available to technicians in the Czech Republic and Romania, with media reporting that the identities of intelligence agents may have been jeopardised.

Lofven’s Social Democrat-led minority government has been badly rattled by one of Sweden’s largest data breaches in decades, and opposition parties had threatened the coalition with a vote of no confidence.

Many political commentators had expected Lofven to call a snap election at Thursday’s press conference – but he insisted he intends to stay on until his term ends in 2018.

“I have no intention of plunging Sweden into a political crisis,” he said, pointing to “formidable challenges” the country is facing including tensions in the Baltic region, Brexit, and the government’s plans for social and economic reforms.

“I looked at several alternatives, and I chose the best one for the country,” Lofven said.

The data leak stems from the Swedish transport agency’s hiring of IBM in 2015 to take over its IT operations.

IBM in turn used subcontractors in the Czech Republic and Romania – making the sensitive information accessible by foreign technicians who did not have security clearance. — AFP