The working environment at the Swedish Environmental Crime Agency has been heavily criticized during the autumn, as both the trade union newspaper Publikt and Aftonbladet reported.

A large part of the criticism has been directed at the agency's director general Monica Rodrigo and has been about a culture of silence at the agency.

Assignment review can now reveal new information about restrictions for those who get a chance to talk to the agency's experts.

Several politicians denied

In 2018, EU parliamentarian Jytte Guteland (S) was to negotiate a new EU directive and wanted to meet one of the auditors at the Swedish Environmental Crime Agency.

- I was pretty sure that we would have a meeting soon - and then I was told that they did not want contact with politicians, she says.

Via e-mail, Jytte Guteland was informed that the authority no longer conducts "dialogues with representatives of individual political parties but refers to consultation responses and other public documents".

Environmentalist Rasmus Ling has also been denied.

- I have visited the Police Authority, the Swedish Customs, the Enforcement Officer, the Consumer Ombudsman, all possible authorities, but I can not remember that on a single occasion there was a negative response.

So I was very surprised and disappointed, he says.

"She also wants all the contacts herself"

Director General Monica Rodrigo does not want to be notified of any contact bans - but internal emails that Assignment Review has received show something else:

“Monica believes that we should not accept individual members of parliament.

A party should not have the 'advantage' of having more info from us than others.

She also wants all the contacts at this level herself. ”

Another email mentions a meeting where the issue of visits by politicians was raised, where it says that "she made it very clear that we should not have that kind of contact."

- I was completely shocked.

I did not think it was true until I heard that the Director - General had issued a restraining order.

I do not think that taxpayers would appreciate this if they knew about it, says Stefan Lundberg, chief prosecutor at the Swedish Environmental Crime Agency.

"Ask about order and order"

Olle Lundin, professor of administrative law, says that as an employee you always have freedom of expression and freedom of information.

- A CEO can never take that away from one.

But a manager can always decide what to do during his working hours and can then of course say that it is not part of the task to have contact with certain people.

To Assignment review, Monica Rodrigo says that they arrange visits if the question goes through the authority's management.

- It is a matter of order and order, it is not about not being allowed to visit the authority, it is obvious that we arrange it, she says.

If it went through the authority's management, do you say yes to individual meetings with individual politicians?

- I do not know, I do not know of any such case where that question has come.