Five convicted over SVT office party booze
Five members of staff at the Malmö offices of state broadcaster Sveriges Television (SVT) have been found guilty of smuggling alcohol from Germany for an office party.
A sixth suspect was cleared of the charges after she claimed not to remember being involved in planning the party.
The five people convicted of smuggling were all ordered to pay fines by Malmö District Court.
The SVT employees were members of a committee tasked with organizing a party for the premiere of the reality TV programme Riket (Kingdom) on November 10th 2005.
The committee members asked a sixth person, a props manager, to take a company car and travel to Germany to purchase 17 litres of strong liquor, 93 litres of wine and 103 litres of strong beer with licence-payers' money.
The alcohol was later served in conjunction with a celebratory dinner for 140 people. Any liquor left over after the meal was sold at a makeshift bar.
Since alcohol may only be imported for private use, the court ruled that purchasing alcohol for an office party using company money constituted a commercial transaction and was therefore illegal.
Comments
See Also
A sixth suspect was cleared of the charges after she claimed not to remember being involved in planning the party.
The five people convicted of smuggling were all ordered to pay fines by Malmö District Court.
The SVT employees were members of a committee tasked with organizing a party for the premiere of the reality TV programme Riket (Kingdom) on November 10th 2005.
The committee members asked a sixth person, a props manager, to take a company car and travel to Germany to purchase 17 litres of strong liquor, 93 litres of wine and 103 litres of strong beer with licence-payers' money.
The alcohol was later served in conjunction with a celebratory dinner for 140 people. Any liquor left over after the meal was sold at a makeshift bar.
Since alcohol may only be imported for private use, the court ruled that purchasing alcohol for an office party using company money constituted a commercial transaction and was therefore illegal.
Join the conversation in our comments section below. Share your own views and experience and if you have a question or suggestion for our journalists then email us at [email protected].
Please keep comments civil, constructive and on topic – and make sure to read our terms of use before getting involved.
Please log in here to leave a comment.