Bankruptcies in billion-dollar companies are unusual.
Last year, the clothing chain MQ's bankruptcy was counted as Sweden's largest limited company bankruptcy, and MQ Retail AB then had a turnover of 1.4 billion.
The telecom company Novacode AB, which has now been filed for bankruptcy by the company's CEO, had a total turnover of more than SEK 5 billion in the last two years.
Sales increased dramatically, from SEK 47,000 in 2017 to just over SEK 2.2 billion the following year - and just over SEK 3.1 billion in 2019. The explanation must have been a drastic increase in trade, especially in IP telephony, which according to the annual report “increased above all expectations ”.
But the Swedish Tax Agency and the Swedish Environmental Crime Agency suspect something else: that the trade was largely fabricated and mainly part of an advanced fraud aimed at the state - more specifically the fraud scam that SVT told about last autumn and which according to experts may be the largest ever affected Sweden .
Hundreds of millions were required
Last year, Novacode's business was investigated by the Swedish Tax Agency, which in December stated that it would pay almost 700 million in missing VAT, plus a tax surcharge of over 130 million.
The company itself has described how it traded with Iskana AB - also the hugely successful telecom company on paper, but which at the same time did not want to talk about its successes in an SVT interview (see video) and which also caught the interest of both the Tax Agency and the Swedish Environmental Crime Agency.
Novacode's CEO, just like Iskana, has disappeared and been detained in his absence.
Both are suspected of serious economic crimes in connection with each company's business.
The Swedish Tax Agency's investigation shows that Novacode, like Iskana, rejects all accusations.
Novacode has certified to the Swedish Tax Agency that it has "absolutely nothing to do with or has any knowledge regarding any form of illegal fraud or cheating to do of any kind".