Ulf Ludvig Sundqvist (22 February 1945 – 22 April 2023) was a Finnish politician who served as chairman of the

Social Democratic Party of Finland The Social Democratic Party of Finland (SDP, fi, Suomen sosialidemokraattinen puolue ; sv, Finlands socialdemokratiska parti), shortened to the Social Democrats ( fi, link=no, Sosiaalidemokraatit; sv, link=no, Socialdemokrater) and commonly kno ...

, a minister in four cabinets in the 1970s and a banker in the 1980s.

Political career

Sundqvist was elected into the Parliament in 1970 and served as the Minister of Education in three cabinets between 1972 and 1975. He was the

Minister of Trade and Industry A Ministry of Trade and Industry, Ministry of Commerce, Ministry of Commerce and Industry or variations is a ministry that is concerned with a nation's trade, industry and commerce. Notable examples are: List *Algeria: Ministry of Industry and ...

from 1979 to 1981. Sundqvist left the parliament in 1983 and worked as the manager of

STS Bank National Workers' Savings Bank (1971-1989) (In Finnish; ''Suomen Työväen Säästöpankki'', in Swedish; ''Arbetarsparbanken'') or STS-Bank (1989-1992) was a Finnish savings bank and commercial bank. Workers' savings banks were syndicalist, so ...

from 1982 to 1991. However, STS was drawn into reckless lending in the late 1980s, and with the early 1990s recession in Finland, STS was bailed out by the government and sold at a loss to KOP. Although Sundqvist was personally involved in some minor financial irregularities, the main thrust of the accusations against him was rooted in his incompetent management and reckless lending practices. Sundqvist was elected chairman of the SDP in November 1991, and he was replaced by Paavo Lipponen in June 1993. In 1993, Sundqvist was accused of fraud (charges he was later cleared of) and he had to resign as the chairman. In a civil trial, he was held financially responsible for the demise of STS, and was ordered to pay damages. However, he shirked this by intentionally keeping multiple credit accounts overdrawn. As a result, he was convicted of

aggravated Aggravation, in law, is "any circumstance attending the commission of a crime or tort which increases its guilt or enormity or adds to its injurious consequences, but which is above and beyond the essential constituents of the crime or tort itself. ...

debtor's dishonesty Dishonesty is to act without honesty. It is used to describe a lack of probity, cheating, lying, or deliberately withholding information, or being deliberately deceptive or a lack in integrity, knavishness, perfidiosity, corruption or treacherousne ...

. He was sentenced to pay back 16.4 million markkaa, but only 1.2 million mk were recovered. He also received a six months suspended prison sentence.

Arja Alho Arja Inkeri Alho (born 21 March 1954) is a Finnish politician. She was member of the Parliament of Finland from 1983 to 1999 and again from 2003 to 2007, representing the constituency of Helsinki until 1999 and then the constituency of Uusimaa sin ...

used her authority as the second minister of finance to lower Sundqvist's financial liabilities in 1997, which led to her resignation.

Post-politics

Later, Sundqvist was an entrepreneur and a management consultant. He had his own company, Navinor Oy, and he worked as a senior consultant at Kreab Gavin Anderson.

Health complications and death

A smoker for 40 years, Sundqvist suffered a heart attack in

Stockholm Stockholm () is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in Sweden by population, largest city of Sweden as well as the List of urban areas in the Nordic countries, largest urban area in Scandinavia. Approximately 980,000 people liv ...

in 2004. At the age of 61, he was diagnosed with oral cancer. In 2007, a benign brain tumour (unrelated to the cancer) was found. Ulf Sundqvist died on 22 April 2023, at the age of 78.Demokraatti: SDP:n entinen puheenjohtaja Ulf Sundqvist on kuollut

Political career

Post-politics

Health complications and death

References

Further reading