The SD invoice scandal has put the Sweden Democrats under renewed scrutiny after TV4’s investigative programme Kalla fakta alleged that party-linked invoices were used to disguise food and alcohol costs, including private gatherings described as “Jimmie parties” for party leader Jimmie Åkesson and his friends.
The allegations concern the Sweden Democrats (Sverigedemokraterna, SD), the right-wing party that supports Sweden’s current centre-right government from outside the cabinet. According to TV4, the claims are based on internal emails, receipts, accounting records and invoices provided by Carola Othén, a businesswoman who worked as a consultant for the party for nearly a decade.
TV4 says the material suggests that some costs were presented as party events or catering arrangements in a way that may have helped the party avoid questions from auditors and potential benefit taxation. SD has declined to comment on the allegations in detail, arguing that it cannot be sure the documents used by TV4 have not been manipulated.
SD invoice scandal focuses on alleged event labels
At the centre of the investigation is the way invoices and receipts were allegedly handled inside or around SD’s communications operation.
According to TV4, Othén’s company regularly bought food and drink for the party’s communications department. In 2021 alone, the broadcaster says it identified 60 catering-related receipts, including several purchases involving meat dishes such as beef fillet and burgers. TV4 also reported that ten receipts that year came from Systembolaget, Sweden’s state-owned alcohol retailer. One receipt, dated 11 March 2021, allegedly showed alcohol purchases worth SEK 6,231, about €570.
The key issue is not only the spending itself, but how it was booked. TV4 reports that former SD finance chief Lena-Karin Lifvenhjelm instructed Othén in an email to present purchases of food and drink as catering arrangements linked to event names and attendee numbers, rather than passing on receipts that could be interpreted as benefits for employees.
In the investigation, Mats Höglund, an associate professor in financial law at Karlstad University, says the alleged arrangement would warrant closer scrutiny from the Swedish Tax Agency (Skatteverket). He also says that if private meals or parties were paid for by an organisation without a legitimate business or representation purpose, benefit taxation could become relevant.
“Jimmie parties” raise questions over private benefits
The most politically sensitive part of the investigation concerns what Othén describes as “Jimmie parties”.
According to TV4 and SVT’s summary of the programme, Othén says she was asked to split some gatherings into several smaller events and, in some cases, invent event descriptions or guest lists. She claims that several of these occasions were in reality parties for Åkesson and his friends, including people from music circles.
TV4 reports that one invoice during the pandemic in 2021 described a three-course dinner for 31 people. The underlying documents allegedly listed seven smaller events, including names such as E-Type, Alexander Bard and Christian “Kicken” Lundqvist. Othén says some of those event descriptions were not real and that she had to invent who had attended.
The allegations remain contested. SD has not responded to the detailed questions raised by TV4 before publication. The party points instead to an ongoing legal conflict with Othén, whom it has reported to the police over alleged fraud. Othén denies SD’s interpretation and says the dispute concerns margins and business arrangements connected to her work for the party.
TV4 says its investigation is separate from that legal dispute and that it has verified the authenticity of the documents through accounting software logs, file metadata, cross-checks between invoices and emails, and information from seven other people with insight into the party’s operations.
Public funding makes the allegations politically sensitive
The case is politically sensitive because Swedish parties receive substantial public support.
According to TV4, SD’s national organisation received more than SEK 100 million, about €9.2 million, in 2024 from the state and the Riksdag. Separately, Sweden’s Party Funding Board (Partibidragsnämnden) decided that SD would receive SEK 30.6 million, about €2.8 million, in state party support for the 2024/25 support year.
That public financing gives the allegations a broader democratic dimension. The issue is not only whether tax rules were followed, but whether taxpayer-funded party resources were used in a way consistent with transparency and accountability.
For SD, the timing is difficult. Sweden will hold elections to the Riksdag on 13 September 2026, and the party is already a central actor in the right-wing bloc through the Tidö Agreement. Any investigation into invoices, benefits and party spending risks becoming part of a wider debate on political ethics, especially after previous TV4 investigations into SD’s communications methods.
SD avoids detailed comment as more episodes are expected
TV4 says Kalla fakta sought interviews with Åkesson, communications chief Joakim Wallerstein, Lifvenhjelm and SD representatives for about a month before publication. The broadcaster says SD’s press chief reviewed some of the documents, but no party representative agreed to answer the programme’s questions.
The party’s position is that the material cannot be safely assessed while a legal process involving Othén is ongoing. TV4, however, says the questions concern SD’s internal handling of party spending before the conflict escalated.
The first episode of SD-fixaren is only the beginning of a three-part investigation. Further reporting is expected in the coming days. For now, the allegations have opened a new front in Swedish politics: whether one of the country’s most influential parties handled publicly funded resources as party work, private hospitality, or something in between.
