The Telub affair was a political scandal

Political scandal

A political scandal is a kind of political corruption that is exposed and becomes a scandal, in which politicians or government officials are accused of engaging in various illegal, corrupt, or unethical practices...

 in Sweden

Sweden

Sweden , officially the Kingdom of Sweden , is a Nordic country on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe. Sweden borders with Norway and Finland and is connected to Denmark by a bridge-tunnel across the Öresund....

 in the early 1980s.

In 1977 the Swedish government-owned company Telub was contacted by a representative of the Libyan military

Military of Libya

The Libyan Armed Forces constituted the state defence organisation of the Libyan Arab Jamahiriya before they were destroyed, and are being replaced by a new national army. A Major General, Suleiman Mahmoud al-Obeidi, was named interim chief of staff of the rebellion's armed forces in mid July...

 who wanted to explore the possibilities to buy education for a group of Libyan military students. The education was in the field of telecommunication

Telecommunication

Telecommunication is the transmission of information over significant distances to communicate. In earlier times, telecommunications involved the use of visual signals, such as beacons, smoke signals, semaphore telegraphs, signal flags, and optical heliographs, or audio messages via coded...

 techniques and engineering. Telub won the contract in fierce competition with other European companies, and in March 1979 the contract between Telub and the Libyan military was signed. The 96 Libyan students arrived in Sweden in March 1980.

The case became heated when the newspaper Expressen

Expressen

Expressen is one of two nationwide evening tabloid newspapers in Sweden, the other being Aftonbladet. Expressen was founded in 1944; its symbol is a wasp and slogans "it stings" or "Expressen to your rescue", always on the reader's side....

in an article described the group of Libyan students as future terrorists

Terrorism

Terrorism is the systematic use of terror, especially as a means of coercion. In the international community, however, terrorism has no universally agreed, legally binding, criminal law definition...

. One of the strongest critics was Olle Wästberg

Olle Wästberg

Olof "Olle" Mattias Wästberg is a Swedish journalist, politician and diplomat, currently serving as Director-General of the Swedish Institute....

, an MP

Parliament of Sweden

The Riksdag is the national legislative assembly of Sweden. The riksdag is a unicameral assembly with 349 members , who are elected on a proportional basis to serve fixed terms of four years...

 for the People's Party

Liberal People's Party (Sweden)

The Liberal People's Party is a political party in Sweden. The party advocates social liberalism and is part of the governing centre-right coalition The Alliance, which achieved a majority in the general election of 17 September 2006...

, who described them as agents of the Palestine Liberation Organization

Palestine Liberation Organization

The Palestine Liberation Organization is a political and paramilitary organization which was created in 1964. It is recognized as the "sole legitimate representative of the Palestinian people" by the United Nations and over 100 states with which it holds diplomatic relations, and has enjoyed...

 (PLO). In January 1981 it was revealed that the technical education also had some military fields of use. While there was no legal ground to force Telub to cancel its education, the pressure on the company eventually became so hard that the Libyan students had to leave Sweden. A German company then overtook the contract.

The case was reviewed by the parliamentary Committee on the Constitution

Committee on the Constitution (Parliament of Sweden)

The Committee on the Constitution is a committee in the Parliament of Sweden. The committee prepares matters concerning the constitution and the Parliament Act and other matters concerning legislation of a constitutional and general administrative nature, as well as matters relating to radio and...

. The committee criticised Minister for Trade Staffan Burenstam Linder

Staffan Burenstam Linder

Hans Martin Staffan Burenstam Linder was a Swedish economist and conservative politician. He was Swedish Minister for Trade from 1976–78 and from 1979-81....

 for his handling of the case. However, Minister for Foreign Affairs

Minister for Foreign Affairs (Sweden)

The Minister for Foreign Affairs is the foreign minister of Sweden and the head of the Ministry for Foreign Affairs.The office was instituted in 1809 as a result of the constitutional Instrument of Government promulgated in the same year. Until 1876 the office was called Prime Minister for Foreign...

 Karin Söder

Karin Söder

Karin Anne Sofie Söder is a Swedish Centre politician. She was the first woman in Sweden to be elected the leader of a major political party. She headed the Swedish Centre Party from 1985 to 1987. She was also one of the first female foreign ministers in the world.-Biography:Söder was born in...

 and Minister for Defence Eric Krönmark were not criticised since the Communist Party

Left Party (Sweden)

The Left Party is a socialist and feminist political party in Sweden, from 1967 to 1990 known as the Left Party – The Communists .On welfare issues, the party opposes privatizations...

laid down their votes in those cases.

The Swedish government also started an official investigation, which published its report in 1981.