After a 1½-year investigation, the prosecutor’s office has decided to dro the charges regarding alleged irregularities in connection with the purchase of seven new rescue helicopters. “The police have not found anything, and the prosecutor’s office has now closed the case”, says Ulrika Ekström, Director of Communications at the Swedish Maritime Administration.

The commotion took off after the Swedish television show Uppdrag Granskning (“Assignment Investigate”) aired the first of two inspective programs on 29 April 2015, wher it questioned some details in the one-billion-SEK public tender, implying that the deal could have been set up in advance. On 17th of June the police, led by the Prosecutor’s chamber of anti-corruption, did a raid at the headquarters of the Maritime Administration, and the investigation proceeded from then on.

In October 2012 the Swedish Maritime Administration signed an agreement with AgustaWestland SpA for the purchase of seven new AW139. The helicopters were delivered between September 2013 and May 2015, and the first AW139 was deployed in active SAR service in April 2014, replacing the current Sikorsky S-76C+/C++ helicopters.