Inga-Britt Monica Stigsdotter Ahlenius (born 19 April 1939) is a Swedish

auditor An auditor is a person or a firm appointed by a company to execute an audit.Practical Auditing, Kul Narsingh Shrestha, 2012, Nabin Prakashan, Nepal To act as an auditor, a person should be certified by the regulatory authority of accounting an ...

public servant The civil service is a collective term for a sector of government composed mainly of career civil service personnel hired rather than elected, whose institutional tenure typically survives transitions of political leadership. A civil service offic ...

and former

Under-Secretary-General An under-secretary-general of the United Nations (USG) is a senior official within the United Nations System, normally appointed by the General Assembly on the recommendation of the secretary-general for a renewable term of four years. Under-s ...

for the

United Nations Office of Internal Oversight Services The United Nations Office of Internal Oversight Services (OIOS) is an independent office in the United Nations Secretariat whose mandate is to "assist the Secretary-General in fulfilling his internal oversight responsibilities in respect of the r ...

(OIOS). Ahlenius was born in

Karlstad Karlstad (, ) is the 20th-largest city in Sweden, the seat of Karlstad Municipality, the capital of Värmland County, and the largest city in the province Värmland in Sweden. The city proper had 67,122 inhabitants in 2020 with 97,233 inhabitan ...

, Sweden. She holds a degree in business administration from the

Stockholm School of Economics The Stockholm School of Economics (SSE; , HHS) is a private business school located in city district Vasastaden in the central part of Stockholm, Sweden. SSE offers BSc, MSc and MBA programs, along with PhD- and Executive education progr ...

and started her career working in the economic secretariat of Sweden's largest commercial bank,

Handelsbanken Svenska Handelsbanken AB is a leading Nordic countries, Nordic bank with international operations, providing a comprehensive range of financial services including corporate banking, investment banking, trading, and consumer banking such as loans, ...

. Between 1968 and 1993 she held various posts at the Ministry of Commerce and Industry and the Ministry of Finance in Sweden, including as head of the Budget Department from 1987. Since 1993 she has been a member of the

Royal Swedish Academy of Engineering Sciences The Royal Swedish Academy of Engineering Sciences (, IVA), founded on 24 October 1919 by King Gustaf V, is one of the royal academies in Sweden. The academy is an independent organisation, which promotes contact and exchange between business, ...

. She served as Auditor General of the

Swedish National Audit Office The Swedish National Audit Office () is the agency responsible for oversight of the state finances through financial and performance audits of state agencies, state-owned companies and the Government of Sweden. It serves directly under the Riksd ...

from 1993 to 2003. There was some controversy when her term as Auditor General was over where she made several statements to media including that some of the government's proposed changes to the Audit Office would limit its ability to act independently. In connection with this the minister of finance claimed "she wished another assignment", which she claimed was on his initiative and that she in reality was fired. After this the parliament took the responsibility of assigning Auditor General. Later in 2003 she served as Auditor General of

Kosovo Kosovo, officially the Republic of Kosovo, is a landlocked country in Southeast Europe with International recognition of Kosovo, partial diplomatic recognition. It is bordered by Albania to the southwest, Montenegro to the west, Serbia to the ...

. The previous controversy from 2003 was noted by Swedish media since Mrs. Ahlenius was proposed for the position by the

United States The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...

and not by her native

Sweden Sweden, formally the Kingdom of Sweden, is a Nordic countries, Nordic country located on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe. It borders Norway to the west and north, and Finland to the east. At , Sweden is the largest Nordic count ...

. During her terms as Auditor General she held several international positions. She chaired the

INTOSAI The International Organization of Supreme Audit Institutions (INTOSAI) is an intergovernmental organization whose members are supreme audit institutions. Nearly every supreme audit institution in the world is a member of INTOSAI. Depending on th ...

Auditing Standards Committee for eight years, and was chairman of the Governing Board of the European Organization for Supreme Audit Institutions ( EUROSAI) during 1993 to 1996. Ahlenius was also a member of the Committee of Independent Experts that was called for by the

European Parliament The European Parliament (EP) is one of the two legislative bodies of the European Union and one of its seven institutions. Together with the Council of the European Union (known as the Council and informally as the Council of Ministers), it ...

with a mandate to examine the way in which the

European Commission The European Commission (EC) is the primary Executive (government), executive arm of the European Union (EU). It operates as a cabinet government, with a number of European Commissioner, members of the Commission (directorial system, informall ...

detects and deals with fraud, mismanagement and nepotism. Their report led to the resignation of the commission. Ahlenius was appointed

for

for a five-year term starting on 15 July 2005. After this assignment, her open critique of

Ban Ki-moon Ban Ki-moon (born 13 June 1944) is a South Korean politician and diplomat who served as the eighth secretary-general of the United Nations between 2007 and 2016. Prior to his appointment as secretary-general, Ban was the South Korean minister ...

's leadership has been severe. ''Mr Chance'', the title of Ekdal's and Ahlenius's book, is an ironic reference to ''Chance the Gardener'', the character in novel and 1979 comedy-drama film

Being There ''Being There'' is a 1979 American satirical comedy-drama film starring Peter Sellers, Shirley MacLaine, and Melvyn Douglas. Directed by Hal Ashby, it is based on the 1971 novel '' Being There'' by Jerzy Kosiński, and adapted for the scr ...

. Commenting on the

2015 FIFA corruption case In 2015, United States federal prosecutors disclosed cases of corruption by officials and associates connected with the Fédération Internationale de Football Association (FIFA), the governing body of association football, futsal and beach so ...

, Ahlenius suggested side-stepping

presumption of innocence The presumption of innocence is a legal principle that every person Accused (law), accused of any crime is considered innocent until proven guilt (law), guilty. Under the presumption of innocence, the legal burden of proof is thus on the Prosecut ...

and that the accused should prove their innocence."Dom ska bevisa för den nya ledaren att eär oskyldiga och inte har nånting att göra med det fiffel som ett antal ledamöter ju redan är åtalade för.", ("They should prove to the new leader that

hey Hey, HEY, or Hey! may refer to: Music * Hey (band), a Polish rock band Albums * ''Hey'' (Andreas Bourani album) or the title song (see below), 2014 * ''Hey!'' (Julio Iglesias album) or the title song, 1980 * ''Hey!'' (Jullie album) or the ...

are innocent and have nothing to do with the corruption some are already charged with.")
Vad krävs för att få bukt med korruptionen inom FIFA?
, ''P1-morgon'' kl 09:15,

Sveriges radio Sveriges Radio Aktiebolag, AB (; "Sweden's Radio") is Sweden's national publicly funded radio programming, radio broadcaster. Sveriges Radio is a public limited company, owned by an independent foundation, previously funded through a television ...

, 4 June 2015. Retrieved 4 June 2015.

Bibliography

*Niklas Ekdal with Inga-Britt Ahlenius: ''Mr Chance: – FN:s förfall under Ban Ki-moon r Chance—the UN's decay under Ban Ki-moon'. Stockholm 2011. .

References

External links

*, UN.
Ännu inget nytt jobb för Ahlenius
hlenius still jobless ''

Aftonbladet (, lit. "The evening paper") is a Swedish language, Swedish daily tabloid newspaper published in Stockholm, Sweden. It is one of the largest daily newspapers in the Nordic countries. History and profile The newspaper was founded by Lar ...

'', 13 September 2000. * {{DEFAULTSORT:Ahlenius, Inga-Britt 1939 births 20th-century Swedish civil servants Swedish women civil servants Swedish officials of the United Nations Members of the Royal Swedish Academy of Engineering Sciences Living people Stockholm School of Economics alumni