The Bofors Scandal was a case concerning a weapon-factory in a small town in Sweden which smuggled 300 items of guides missiles from Sweden to Singapore, continuing to Dubai and Bahrain. It was a very sensational case and got famous all over the world.
The person who revealed the whole smuggling-business was Ingvar Bratt, he had worked with a guided missile called Robot 70 for some time. According to the Swedish Peace and Arbitration Society it is illegal to export weapons to countries that has an armed conflict, is involved in an international conflict which may lead to an armoured conflict, or have inner armoured conflicts. The law also says that export is not allowed to countries having extensive and serious violations of human rights. In an interview he says that he knew that it was exported to Dubai and Bahrain but that he didn’t know it was illegal.
Ingvar Bratt had been working for the company for a long time when he was informed by a news reporter about the fact that the weapon-export to Dubai and Bahrain was illegal. He found files in his bosses office and knew that it would be enough to prove that the company had been in illegal trade.
What the company had done to avoid getting accused for any crime was to first send the 300 items to Singapore, and then have it continue on to Dubai and Bahrain, thus deviating the route and the attention.
The first sign that something was going on came when Ingvar Bratt went out in the media and revealed the affair the 28th of May 1984. The immediate reaction was not very big when Ingvar Bratt revealed the scandal, but it was going to become a huge story all over the world, in a short period of time.
Sources:
http://www.ne.se/boforsaff%C3%A4ren 11/10/14 11:34
http://sv.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boforsaff%C3%A4ren 11/10/14 11:42
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O0iBEOmMX1k 11/10/15 18:46
http://www.svenskafreds.se/faq/vapenexport 11/10/15 19:06
