Suspicions of irregularities concerning the Left Party’s Mohamed Abdukardir Ali in Borlänge have once again put the spotlight on political networks in the Somali diaspora. In Växjö, there is another and much older story—that of former Social Democratic politician Mohamed Abdi Elmi, whose businesses over the years have received tens of millions of kronor from Swedish authorities. After bankruptcies, tax debts, football scandals, and a prison sentence, he evaded the Prison and Probation Service—even as the state continued to pay out activity support. Last summer he was apprehended in England.
An ongoing preliminary investigation in Borlänge concerns suspected undue influence during voting, connected to the Left Party. The background is the saga surrounding Left Party politician Mohamed Abdukardir Ali, who secured a parliamentary seat by receiving 648 personal votes.
The preliminary investigation was initially closed on September 8 but was reopened on September 21 when new circumstances emerged. Documents reviewed by SVT mention three suspected individuals, but none have been formally notified of suspicion, and the Prosecutor’s Office has not made their identities public. Ali has taken a “timeout” and denied all media accusations.
It is against this backdrop that the story of another politician of Somali background has become relevant again.
In Växjö, Mohamed Abdi Elmi began his Swedish public career in a completely different way than it ended—as a Social Democratic municipal politician, integration profile, entrepreneur, and football coach. Then followed a saga spanning more than a decade.
Social Democratic Politician and Integration Profile
Elmi sat for the Social Democrats in Växjö’s municipal council and the technical committee. At the same time, he developed businesses related to integration, the labor market, and football.
READ ALSO: Police chase Social Democratic Mohamed – suspected of cheating taxpayers of 25 million
The football club was originally called Sufstars and was linked to the Somali Youth Association. The project was for several years presented as an integration project, and the team would later become Växjö United.
At the same time, Elmi had another assignment. Between 2009 and 2015, according to P4 Kronoberg, he served as guardian for at least 25 so-called unaccompanied refugee minors on behalf of Växjö municipality.
Already in 2011, the Swedish Tax Agency found significant deficiencies in how Elmi managed his sole proprietorship. Despite this, he continued as a guardian for several years. The supervisory board later admitted that annual checks had failed.
READ ALSO: Wanted criminal Social Democratic politician still receives grants from Sweden
6.4 million—and 94 kronor left
At the same time, activities related to establishment and the labor market expanded. The Somali Youth Association, together with the company Starlots, ran establishment guide services to help newcomers enter the labor market.
Between June 2014 and July 2015, the Public Employment Service paid just over 6.4 million kronor to the operation. When the association went bankrupt in 2015, the financial statement looked quite different.
The bankruptcy trustee told DN that there was no accounting at all. The debts totaled 977,167 kronor. The assets: 94 kronor.
The result was remarkable. According to the radio channel’s investigation, at least ten companies connected to the former Social Democratic politician had received at least 25 million kronor from the Public Employment Service. All had gone bankrupt with large tax debts and missing accounts.
The Employment Service stopped payments and began demanding money back, but according to DN they were not repaid. The bankruptcy administrator reported the association for suspected economic crime, but the preliminary investigation was dropped.
Elmi himself offered a different explanation for the missing accounts. He told DN that the operation had moved offices and the paperwork was inadvertently lost.
He also believed the Employment Service owed his operation 1.5 million kronor, and the bankruptcy could have been avoided if the money had been paid.
Private spending also surfaced when authorities began scrutinizing Elmi’s business. Before the 2015 bankruptcy, he ran a gym and an integration business that received just over 1.3 million kronor from the Employment Service.
According to P4 Kronoberg, a review by the Swedish Tax Agency found that part of the operation’s income went to personal expenses—including luxury spending, hotel nights, and a trip to Dubai.
Personal bankruptcy—leaves politics
The next blow came the same year. In 2015, Elmi was declared personally bankrupt with over 1.2 million kronor in debt. At the time of the bankruptcy, he stepped down from his political positions for the Social Democrats.
The trading partnership Tahs and a limited company with the same name, both with Elmi as principal, also went bankrupt. Combined debts exceeded one million kronor and the bankruptcy trustee said accounting materials were also missing there.
More businesses followed the same path. Elmaani and Starwork AB, which among other things worked with cleaning, support and work training for job seekers, also went bankrupt. Starwork had over 840,000 kronor in debts. But the story about public money was far from over.
A dozen companies—at least 25 million
P4 Kronoberg started mapping out the business network around Elmi. The result was remarkable. According to the radio channel’s investigation, at least ten companies connected to the former Social Democratic politician had received at least 25 million kronor from the Public Employment Service.
All ended up bankrupt with large tax debts and missing accounts. The Employment Service reported Elmi to the police for suspected aggravated fraud.
However, after a comprehensive investigation, the preliminary probe was closed in 2021.
The prosecutor judged that the material from the Employment Service and the subsequent investigation did not sufficiently support suspicions of crime. Elmi denied the offenses.
It’s important to distinguish the 25 million from the crimes Elmi was later actually convicted for. The story, meanwhile, took a nearly circular turn. As early as 2019, P4 revealed that Elmi, after the bankruptcy scandal, was working in a new company funded by the Employment Service.
The football club began to fall apart
Meanwhile, Växjö United continued its climb through the league system. But more and more oddities were noted around the team. In 2019, DN reviewed a dramatic dissolution of Division 3, where Växjö United was on its way to a league win. The story involved unauthorized players, fake identities, and strange betting patterns on Asian markets.
A former player went to the Migration Agency and stated that the identity and nationality under which he was registered were not real. He also reported that he had been encouraged to change identity and was later threatened.
The police’s task force against sports-related crime started a preliminary investigation into several suspected crimes linked to the operation. The suspicions in that investigation should not be confused with the financial crimes Elmi was later convicted of.
The Prison and Probation Service decided that Elmi should report to the open Tygelsjö prison by May 2025 at the latest. He applied twice for deferment, first citing studies and then family reasons. The applications were rejected. Elmi did not report, and became internationally wanted.
Växjö United also encountered financial problems. The club was banned from municipal facilities after failing to pay debts of just over 96,000 kronor. Other media also reported on the football club.
Finally, the prison sentence arrived
After all the dropped investigations, a conviction finally came in a different financial crime case. In May 2024, Göta Court of Appeal sentenced Mohamed Abdi Elmi to one year in prison for tax offenses, accounting offenses, and obstructing tax control.
The crimes were committed, among other places, in Växjö United, where the court found that Elmi had been the de facto representative and responsible for the association’s accounting. The Supreme Court did not grant leave to appeal.
The Prison and Probation Service decided that Elmi should report to the open Tygelsjö prison by May 2025 at the latest. He applied twice for deferment, first citing studies and then family reasons. The applications were rejected. Elmi did not report, and became internationally wanted.
READ ALSO: Ekeroth: “Somalia’s corruption is not our problem”
Wanted—but the grants kept coming
Then, another odd twist occurred. Despite the Prison and Probation Service listing him as wanted, Elmi continued to receive monthly activity support of around 15,000 kronor.
To qualify for the benefit, he was to participate in an employment measure at Växjö company Praecuro. The Employment Service was thus simultaneously paying Praecuro to help the wanted Elmi find work.
READ ALSO: Convicted drug smuggler from Somalia could sit in parliament for the Left Party
Praecuro had three employees and did brisk business. In 2024 the company had a turnover of 3.2 million kronor and an operating profit of just over 1.4 million. One million was paid out to the owners. The previous year, another million was paid out.
Police also discovered that Elmi and eight other men were registered at the same address in Norrhult despite not living there.
When police searched the property it was deserted and the heat was off. According to police, five of the men were also receiving between 10,000 and 18,000 kronor each per month in benefits.
Reports against Elmi for welfare and registration fraud were later dropped, as he had left the country and was not expected to return.
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Arrested in England
But Elmi was to return. The trail of the internationally wanted former Social Democratic politician led to England. During the summer of 2026, he was arrested by British authorities. On September 3, he was flown back to Sweden.
The original plan was for him to serve his sentence at the open Tygelsjö prison. After his evasion, the Prison and Probation Service made a different assessment. Elmi was instead placed at Johannesberg in Mariestad, security class 2.
“Given that Mohamed Abdi Elmi evaded execution for a long time, there is deemed to be a risk of absconding and misconduct during the execution,” the Prison and Probation Service wrote in its decision.
The former Social Democratic municipal politician, integration entrepreneur, guardian, and football profile had thus gone from Växjö’s municipal council to a Swedish prison facility.
READ ALSO: Police officer Maria Rosander warns of Islamisation: “Society is being eaten up from within”
And while the investigation into what actually happened with the Left Party’s Mohamed Abdukardir Ali in Borlänge is still ongoing, the story of Mohamed Abdi Elmi is already largely written in bankruptcy records, authority payments, and court documents.
According to the Swedish Tax Agency, Elmi has been a Swedish citizen since January 11, 2008. He is currently registered as having left the country, without an official address in Sweden. The citizenship also means he cannot be deported from Sweden, not even for criminal offenses.
Elmi’s story has no known legal links to the ongoing Borlänge investigation. But there are parallels that raise questions. Mohamed Abdukardir Ali also has an unusually patchy registration history, and according to TV4 has moved between at least ten addresses in a few years.
He has also had business involvement and was granted debt restructuring in 2022 after accumulating 40 debt items totaling just over 163,000 kronor, including debts to the Social Insurance Agency, CSN, and the Police Authority.
READ ALSO: Police: Islamisation of Sweden has been ongoing for 30 years
The debts contributed to his denial of Swedish citizenship in 2024. Only in February 2026 did he become a Swedish citizen. Just months later, he was voted into parliament—and is now at the center of the high-profile election story in Borlänge.
Ali’s businesses have also raised questions. According to Expressen, he presented himself as founder and CEO of Verisom, a company the newspaper could not find in Swedish, Somali, or international corporate registries. Through Afritech Growth AB, he has also tried to sell a reform project to the Somali government in areas financed by Swedish aid.
READ ALSO: Mona Walter on the Minnesota scandal, Somali culture, and why Sweden is particularly exposed
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