Sven Jörgen Hellman (born 1963) is a Swedish politician and former member of the

Riksdag The Riksdag ( , ; also or , ) is the parliament and the parliamentary sovereignty, supreme decision-making body of the Kingdom of Sweden. Since 1971, the Riksdag has been a unicameral parliament with 349 members (), elected proportional rep ...

, the national

legislature A legislature (, ) is a deliberative assembly with the legal authority to make laws for a political entity such as a country, nation or city on behalf of the people therein. They are often contrasted with the executive and judicial power ...

. A member of the

Social Democratic Party The name Social Democratic Party or Social Democrats has been used by many political parties in various countries around the world. Such parties are most commonly aligned to social democracy as their political ideology. Active parties Form ...

, he represented Västra Götaland County North between October 2006 and June 2022. Hellman is the son of Sigvard Hellman and Anita Hellman. He was educated in

Trollhättan Trollhättan () is the 23rd-largest city in Sweden, the seat of Trollhättan Municipality, Västra Götaland County. It is situated by Göta älv, near the lake Vänern, and has a population of approximately 50,000 in the city proper. It is loc ...

and studied economics at the

University of Gothenburg The University of Gothenburg () is a List of universities in Sweden, university in Sweden's second largest city, Gothenburg. Founded in 1891, the university is the third-oldest of the current List of universities in Sweden#Public universities, S ...

. He was a member of the

municipal council A municipal council is the legislative body of a municipality or local government area. Depending on the location and classification of the municipality it may be known as a city council, town council, town board, community council, borough cou ...

Lilla Edet Municipality Lilla Edet Municipality () is a municipality in Västra Götaland County in western Sweden. Its seat is located in the town of Lilla Edet. The present municipality was formed in 1971, when the market town (''köping'') Lilla Edet (instituted as ...

from 1988 to 2002. He was a municipal commissioner at the municipal council from 1991 to 2002. In June 2022. an investigation of the residencies of all Riksdag members by SVT's ''

Uppdrag granskning ''Uppdrag granskning'' (English name: ''Mission: Investigate'') is a Swedish television program focusing on investigative journalism Investigative journalism is a form of journalism in which reporters deeply investigate a single topic of in ...

'' investigative series found that the

cottage A cottage, during Feudalism in England, England's feudal period, was the holding by a cottager (known as a cotter or ''bordar'') of a small house with enough garden to feed a family and in return for the cottage, the cottager had to provide ...

Vänersborg Vänersborg () is a Urban areas in Sweden, locality and the seat of Vänersborg Municipality, Västra Götaland County, Sweden with 23,882 inhabitants (out of a municipal total of 39,904) Until 1997 it was the capital of Älvsborg County, which mer ...

that Hellman claimed to be his main residence had no functioning

toilet A toilet is a piece of sanitary hardware that collects human waste (urine and feces) and sometimes toilet paper, usually for disposal. Flush toilets use water, while dry or non-flush toilets do not. They can be designed for a sitting p ...

shower A shower is a place in which a person bathes under a spray of typically warm or hot water. Indoors, there is a drain in the floor. Most showers are set up to have adjustable temperature, spray pressure and showerhead nozzle angle. The si ...

sink A sink (also known as ''basin'' in the UK) is a bowl-shaped plumbing fixture for washing hands, dishwashing, and other purposes. Sinks have a tap (faucet) that supplies hot and cold water and may include a spray feature to be used for fas ...

as it was not connected to the mains sewer and had no running water. It was also in a dilapidated condition with a broken window and a hole in the wall. The local municipal council had banned anyone from the living in the cottage. Riksdag regulations allow for any member whose main residence is more than 50 kilometers from the Riksdag to claim

expenses An expense is an item requiring an outflow of money, or any form of fortune in general, to another person or group as payment for an item, service, or other category of costs. For a tenant, rent is an expense. For students or parents, tuition i ...

for overnight accommodation in

Stockholm Stockholm (; ) is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in Sweden by population, most populous city of Sweden, as well as the List of urban areas in the Nordic countries, largest urban area in the Nordic countries. Approximately ...

. Hellman had claimed SEK 700,000 (US$70,000) since 2015. He claimed to live the cottage 20%-30% of the year but his neighbours claimed that they had not seen him at the cottage. An hour after ''Uppdrag granskning'' visited the cottage Hellman changed his registered address. He subsequently resigned from the Riksdag. A

fraud In law, fraud is intent (law), intentional deception to deprive a victim of a legal right or to gain from a victim unlawfully or unfairly. Fraud can violate Civil law (common law), civil law (e.g., a fraud victim may sue the fraud perpetrato ...

investigation by a special prosecutor was closed in August 2022 due to a lack of evidence.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Hellman, Jorgen 1963 births Living people Members of the Riksdag 2006–2010 Members of the Riksdag 2010–2014 Members of the Riksdag 2014–2018 Members of the Riksdag 2018–2022 Members of the Riksdag from the Social Democrats People from Lilla Edet Municipality University of Gothenburg alumni