Sweden Charges Top Saab Executives with Fraud

Swedish authorities have arrested three former top executives of Saab Automobile AB on charges of accounting fraud.

The suspects former CEO Jan Ake Jonsson, CFO Karl-Gustav Lindstrom and general counsel Kristina Geers were released after questioning. They deny the charges.

The chief prosecutor of the Swedish Economic Crime Authority says the three are suspected of falsifying Saab's financial records in 2010-2011 to evade taxes. Accounting fraud carries a sentence of as much as four years in prison.

The alleged violations occurred while Dutch supercar maker Spyker NV owned Saab. The Swedish carmaker filed for bankruptcy in December 2011, and its assets were later acquired by a Japanese consortium, National Electric Vehicles Sweden.