The Swedish Embassy in Iraq has announced that Scania Industry for the manufacturing of heavy materials and trucks has opened a regional branch in Basra, southern Iraq.
The office, which opened in December was the last of three planned openings in the country in 2010.
The government in Iraq ordered 500 Scania trucks last year, and the company hopes to build its presence to levels comparable to its 1980s peak, when the country was one of its biggest export markets.
Swedish prosecutor Nils-Eric Schultz recently claimed that Scania also supplied the Saddam Hussein regime through Tunisian and Russian partners, and that kickbacks worth at least $5 million were paid for contracts worth $70 million. He is expected to deliver his findings to Swedish authorities in the early part of this year.
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