Swedish Television’s investigative programme Mission Investigate has come into possession of unique, top-secret material showing how Arla’s executives and managers have used their company credit cards and how the dairy farmers have funded other purchases amounting to thousands of items in the co-operative’s accounts in 2014, one of the worst years ever for Swedish dairy farmers.

When Mission Investigate reviews the invoices, several unexpected costs appear. In addition to sheer wastefulness on expensive entertaining, taxi rides and banquets, the executives and managers have made private purchases at the expense of the farmers they represent.

Bougth toys with his company credit card

Among other things, Mission Investigate found that one manager, whose work takes him outside of Sweden’s borders, has used his company credit card to shop at Hugo Boss, at supermarkets and at the national alcohol monopoly – Systembolaget – in his home town. He has also paid for driving school, shopped at toy stores, bought a plane ticket to London for a family member, taken out several cash advances and paid for a restaurant visit in the resort town of Antalya in Turkey, all on the company card.

Arla states that the company has had a system in which employees are allowed to make private purchases on their company credit card, as long as they pay it back. But Arla’s CEO Henri de Sauvage Nolting, admits that the system has not worked.

“As from the first of May 2015 we have a zero tolerance on private purchases; but I'm also responsible for the period beforehand, so we went back and we said okay, all the people who have used this privately – and it's a handful of people – have actually paid back all these private purchases.”

But when Mission Investigate asks for documentation that these purchases were paid back, Arla does not produce it.

Bought a holiday for his wife

One of the most notable invoices is for a plane trip to Paris for the CEO’s wife, which cost SEK 12,000 (USD 1,400, GBP 970) and Arla picked up the tab.

Henri de Sauvage Nolting claims that this was reasonable because it was a business trip for him and participants were entitled to bring along their spouses. But when Mission Investigate pointed out that he makes about a half million kronor a month (USD 58,000, GBP 40,000) and could easily have afforded his wife’s trip to Paris, he agrees and states that he has now paid back the debt.

“My initial judgment was that this was work related, but you made me realise after you called me that this could be misinterpreted by people and that is something I don't like, so then I decided to pay this myself,” says Henri de Sauvage Nolting.

Can be a suspected bribery

The same month that the dairy giant informed its farmers of yet another decrease in milk prices, Arla arranged one of its many company events – this time at a golf course in the province of Östergötland. Customers and company representatives played golf, ate, drank wine and alcohol, and received gifts to the tune of SEK 116,000 (USD 13,500, GBP 9,400).

According to the customers Mission Investigate talked to who participated in the event, the main aspect of the event was socialising. It was not a work-related conference. Which the Swedish Anti-Corruption Institute points out could be considered as bribery.

“The most important aspect of company events is that they should have a natural connection to the company’s work, “ says Helena Sundén, secretary-general at the Swedish Anti-Corruption Institute. “Events that are only about socialising, activities that are simply enjoyable from a personal perspective, can be questionable from a bribery perspective.”