Sweden's new Government paying for debts of the past

STOCKHOLM - Just a month after winning elections, Sweden's new centre-right Government is in turmoil after one minister quit over allegations of tax irregularities and a second remains under fire for failing to pay a television licence.

Trade Minister Maria Borelius resigned a mere eight days after she was appointed, as the coalition led by Frederik Reinfeldt got off to a farcical start.

Reinfeldt's four-party coalition came to power in last month's elections, ousting Social Democrat Goran Persson, who was Prime Minister for a decade.

But the euphoria of Reinfeldt's victory has been punctured rapidly by a series of allegations over the 21 ministers he appointed on October 6.

Over the weekend Borelius resigned, saying: "My family, my friends, my neighbours and their children, business relations, relatives, even the friends of my children, have been subjected to such an intense scrutiny that it makes normal family life impossible."

Borelius admitted to hiring cleaners and nannies in the 1990s without paying employer's taxes on them, compounding her error by saying that it would have been too expensive for her to do so. Tax records showed that she and her husband had a combined income several times that of an average Swedish family.

Her resignation followed a move by Reinfeldt to hire a lawyer to investigate separate claims in Swedish newspapers that she also registered a summer house to a corporation in the Channel Islands to avoid paying property tax.

Borelius has denied any wrongdoing with the exception of not paying taxes for the domestic employees. "All relevant information about myself is available through public records," she said.

Meanwhile, Culture Minister Cecilia Stego Chilo also faces pressure to resign after she admitted not having paid the mandatory television licence fee for 16 years.

The annual fee of 1500 kronor ($310) per annum is the main source of funding for Sweden's public broadcasters, which she oversees as part of her portfolio.

- INDEPENDENT