The background to the bishop's initiative to notify the current accounting firm Baker Tilly Southeast to the Auditor General is the conclusions in the external review of the pastorate's financial situation presented in February.
The main reason for the resulting situation is the renovation of Fredrikskyrkan - a project that became almost SEK 100 million more expensive than planned.
To cover the rampant costs, the former management chose to take out large loans, sell securities and at the same time sell off several central properties.
Employees were laid offIn addition, the decisions on new money for Fredrikskyrkan were taken in several cases outside the current budgetary framework, in the wrong forum and without the proper formulation of the protocols.
The consequences became clear only in 2019: the economy was so pressured that several employees were laid off and that the temporary church pastor Eva-Karin Lindgren was urgently forced to review the church's expenses.
"The above meant that in 2019 it finally emerged that there were serious reasons to question the pastorate's ability to continue operations," writes Bishop Johan Tyrberg in his report to the Auditor General.
Welcome the notificationTyrberg asks why the audit firm has issued a "clean" audit report year after year and only noted some criticism in separate documents.
The bishop also writes that the shortcomings already in 2018 were so noteworthy that the hired accountants should not have given discharge to the church council.
Nevertheless, the church's leadership continued to receive green light.
Eva-Karin Lindgren, vicar of the church in Karlskrona, welcomes the bishop's report.
- I think it is good and important that the responsibility issue in this is clearly clarified, she says.
SVT News Blekinge has unsuccessfully sought the representative of Baker Tilly Sydost for a comment on the bishop's report.
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The whole review: The crisis in the Swedish Church Photo: SVT