frsrdg · H204JO1 · 2014-11-11 00:00:00 — Criticism is expressed of the municipal association for not having ensured that the Administrative Court of Appeal was informed about the contents of the contract with the recruitment company, for failure to act without delay in view of the court’s decision and for having entered into a contract with the recruit- ment company on restricting access to documents in the way that occurred. Criticism of the Authority in the County of for its management of a request for the provision of ancillary material in a preliminary investigation that had been closed (1080-2013) The insight into a preliminary investigation to which a suspect is entitled is laid down in Section 18 of Chapter 23 of the Procedural Code. When a judgment acquires the force of law, the preliminary investigation is definitely closed and the provisions of this section no longer apply directly. The Parliamentary Om- budsmen have stated previously that a great deal suggests that requests for in- sight in such cases must be dealt with according to the regulations in the Free- dom of the Press Act on public access to official documents but when consid- ering whether secrecy should be invoked there is scope for taking the suspect’s prior entitlement to insight into account. Irrespective of which set of regulations is applied, either regarding insight or those laid down in the Freedom of the Press Act, a request for provision of documents in a case must be dealt with speedily. requested provision of the documents included in an ancillary enquiry, the ”discards”, in an investigation that had been closed in which he had been the suspect and was eventually convicted. The material com- prised 21 box files or about 10,000–11,000 pages. It took the authority just over one year to provide the documents. The adjudication states that the extent and complexity of this case meant that a relatively long time to deal with it could be accepted, but that the resources allocated were obviously inade- quate. The authority is criticised for its management of the request, T H E S W E D I S H P A R L I A M E N T A R Y O M B U D S M E N B I L A G A 1 0 2 014 /1 5:JO1 which manifestly failed to comply with the rapidity required by the Freedom of the Press Act. Criticism of an official of the authority in for the way he dealt with a request for provision of parts of a record of a preliminary investigation (2058-2013) A request from a suspect for a copy of the record of a preliminary investigation after the final charges have been read must be dealt with speedily and pursuant to the regulations on entitlement to insight in Section 18 of Chapter 23 of the Procedural Code. Around 11 February 2013 N.N. was notified that the preliminary investiga- tion in which he was a suspect had been completed and that he had a chance to review it and request any additional investigative measures. On 26 February N.N’s counsel requested access to the record of the preliminary investigation. A month elapsed before the documents were provided. The official is criticised for the way in which this was dealt with. Criticism of the authority in the County of and one of its officials for failings in dealing with the request of an injured party for the provision of some of the documents in a preliminary investigation (2231- 2013) An injured party has no right to insight into a preliminary investigation that corresponds to the entitlement of a suspect laid down in Section 18 of Chapter 23 of the Procedural Code. A request from an injured party for provision of documents in a preliminary investigation must – irrespective of whether the investigation is being carried out or has been closed – be dealt with according to the regulations about public access to official documents enshrined in Chap- ter 2 of the Freedom of the Press Act. On two occasions L.M. requested the authority to provide copies of all the documents in a preliminary investigation in which he was an injured party. An official at the authority refused to provide these documents even though this official had no authority to decide on the request. The official also failed to inform L.M. that he could ask for the issue to be referred to the authority for a written decision that could be appealed against. Criticism is expressed of the authority and the official for the shortcomings in the way this case was handled. Criticism of the authority in for management of requests for provision of parts of preliminary investigations that had been closed (3408- 2013) A suspect’s entitlement to insight provided by Section 18 of Chapter 23 of the Procedural Code comes to an end when an investigation is closed. A request from an individual for documents from a closed preliminary investigation should therefore in principle be dealt with pursuant to the provisions on public access to official documents in Chapter 2 of the Freedom of the Press Act. The authority in has in several respects fallen short in its management of requests for provision of parts of preliminary investigations 2 014 /1 5:JO1 B I L A G A 10 T H E S W E D I S H P A R L I A M E N T A R Y O M B U D S M E N that have been closed. The authority has not forwarded the request to the district called upon to decide whether documents can be provided, requests have not been considered with the dispatch required by the Freedom of the Press Act and the authority has failed to issue decisions that can be appealed against when requested to. The authority cannot escape criticism for Criticism of the Traffic and in the City of in view of its refusal to allow to advertise on its “cultural notice boards” (2290-2012) The ’s Traffic and refused to allow to advertise an event entitled Art of the Streets on its “cultural no- tice boards” citing the city’s general policy against graffiti and similar forms of damage (graffiti policy). The protection offered by the Constitution of freedom of expression does not prevent, in the opinion of the Parliamentary Ombudsman, a public authority from making rules about the extent to which different types of information may be published in advertising space of the kind involved. Such rules must, how- ever, be general by nature and may not discriminate between different mes- sages on the grounds of their content. In view of the fact that neither in the information given by the Board to or in its response to the Parliamentary Ombudsman is it made clear in what way it considered ’s posters were incompatible with the graffiti policy, the decision made by matter appears to be Criticism of the chief executive of a municipality for statements to municipal employees after a news article and acting in breach of the “prohibition of enquiry into sources” (5051-2012) After the staff of a school in had sent a letter to the municipality’s administration about shortcomings in the working environment, attention was drawn to the issue in a newspaper article. During a meeting with the staff the municipality’s chief executive spoke about this article. His statement, which could be taken as meaning that he did not want staff to approach the media with criticism of the municipality, is considered less than appropriate. In connection with a question from a journalist asking him to comment on the letter written by the staff of the school the chief executive also asked where the journalist had got the information from. Even if this question was posed with no great forethought, it was inappropriate in view of the provisions in the constitution prohibiting enquiry into sources. T H E S W E D I S H P A R L I A M E N T A R Y O M B U D S M E N B I L A G A 1 0 2 014 /1 5:JO1 Criticism of the chief executive of the municipality of for his involvement in the way in which an independent board dealt with a specific case (6470-2012) The chief executive of the municipality of sent an e-mail to the municipality’s about the way an application for a temporary licence had been dealt with. The e-mail can only be taken as an attempt to influence the outcome of this particular case. Criticism is expressed of the chief executive for his involvement in the way in which an independent board dealt with a specific case. The chief executive also contacted the municipality’s when exhibitors at a fair expressed opinions about the parking tickets they had received. The Parliamentary Ombudsman’s enquiry provides no grounds for criticising the chief executive in this respect. These events also show that the chief executive of a municipality must exercise great caution in contacts that concern cases being dealt with by other boards. Criticism of the county governor of the county of for using her official title in a private matter (4087-2013) The county governor of the county of used her official e-mail address and title when she contacted the chair of a board of social welfare in a private capacity about a case. In addition, the county governor invoked her official title on the following day when she left a voicemail message for the head of the social services about the same private case. County governors play important roles in the public administration and as a rule can be expected to be well known in their counties. There is a risk that the use by county governors of their official titles in private concerns could be viewed as exerting pressure. When country governors act as private individuals they must, therefore, make sure that their actions are not perceived in some other way. The county governor of the county of is criticised for her actions.