Sweden prosecutes ex-security adviser for leaving secret papers at hotel

STOCKHOLM (Reuters) - Swedish prosecutors on Tuesday charged the government's former national security adviser with careless handling of secret information after he allegedly forgot documents at a conference hotel in 2023, the indictment showed.

Prosecutors said in the indictment that Henrik Landerholm had through negligence disclosed "information relating to conditions of a secret nature and whose disclosure to a foreign power could cause harm to Sweden's security".

Landerholm, whose lawyer did not immediately reply to a request for comment, left the documents behind in an unlocked safe as he departed the hotel, according to the indictment. The documents were later returned.

Handpicked for the job by the government of Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson in 2022, Landerholm stepped down in January 2025 following the launch of a criminal investigation into the matter.

(Reporting by Anna Ringstrom, Editing by William Maclean)