Bought expensive designer furniture with taxpayers’ money

After a tip and abnormally high purchasing costs, it was discovered that an employee at the education department had bought furniture claimed to be for the municipality’s preschools but in reality sold it on for hundreds of thousands of kronor. The scheme may have been ongoing for several years.

A preschool principal in Jönköping Municipality is suspected of having purchased furniture and decor worth more than 1.5 million kronor in 2025 alone, including 120 designer lamps and several Lamino armchairs with Gotland sheepskin at 24,800 kronor apiece, only to sell them for personal profit. An internal investigation was launched in February, which resulted in the principal being fired without severance pay and a police report being filed.

“This undermines trust in the municipality. We expect all employees to manage the municipality’s resources correctly and responsibly. Now we must fully clarify what has happened and take necessary action,” said Director of Education Erik Nilsson in February.

The Waste Ombudsman at the Swedish Taxpayers’ Association has accessed the education department’s report on the embezzlement, which, among other things, shows that the principal misled the finance department with a prepared excuse, that the goods were picked up personally from the supplier’s warehouse to bypass delivery checks, and that the control system was not designed to catch this kind of scheme.

The report also states that inventory worth at least 1.1 million kronor cannot be found in the operation and that the purchases “pertain to designer items which are considered unsuitable for preschool activities and questionable in light of the requirement for good financial management.”

At the end of 2025, the principal indicated that “some refreshing of staff areas had been carried out,” which was judged could explain part of the increased costs. In December, the façade could no longer be maintained when purchases were identified as the main cause of the sudden budget deficit.

Blocket tipster

During the ongoing analysis of the expenses, an anonymous person reported buying a still-packaged lamp on Blocket and suspected something amiss. The tip led to the internal investigation, police report for gross breach of trust against principal, and termination.

According to the municipality’s procedures, purchases must be authorized by two people – the principal and a verification officer. The latter never checked deliveries personally. After the incident, the verification officer received a warning.

To prevent similar situations in the future, the education department is proposing several measures – including stricter approval limits, more in-depth spot checks on other costs, and a recommendation to ban self-pickup of goods.