Anders Borg, the former Swedish finance minister and current chairman of the World Economic Forum's Global Financial System Initiative, has stepped down from a second top job after he was forced to apologize for what Bloomberg dubbed "unpleasant" behavior at a party in the Stockholm archipelago. Borg, 49, informed Citi that he will resign from his role as senior adviser, according to an emailed statement from the bank, Bloomberg reported. The resignation follows Borg's Saturday resignation as deputy chairman of investment corporation Kinnevik with immediate effect.
Sweden's former FinMin, Anders Borg, with his fiancee Dominika Peczynski
Borg, who lost the 2014 election after navigating Sweden’s finances for eight years and was widely hailed as the man responsible for his country emerging from the 2008 global recession virtually unscathed, issued a public apology this past Friday after a shocking report in Sweden's Aftonbladet.
What happened? As the Swedish newspaper reported on Friday, during a private party on Husaro, an island in the Stockholm archipelago last Friday, at approximately 11.00 PM, the "noticeably intoxicated" former finance minister decided to expose his penis and grope other men, trying to compare penis sizes. Sources said that he also called female guests "sluts" and "whores."
Swedish media reported that some 60 people were in attendance, including several members of the Swedish political and financial elite and a number of families with children. One reported victim of Borg's breakdown was the CEO of "a leading Swedish weapons manufacturer."
"I don’t know what he drank, but it was a lot" an anonymous partygoer told Aftonbladet.
Another guest told the newspaper that "He was very drunk and very pissed off. He acted incredibly inappropriately. It was very uncomfortable to watch."
When asked to sleep in another house, Borg became aggressive and threatened the host of the party as well as a woman who tried to calm him down.
On Friday morning, Borg wrote about the party in a Facebook post, in which he tried to apologize to everyone involved.
”I was at a party last weekend and had a blackout. I don’t drink more than most people but I have been under a lot of pressure lately", he wrote adding that "I’ve heard that I behaved very inappropriately. I want to sincerely apologize to the other guests. I feel a lot of disappointment and regret my behavior."
Borg has received dozens of supportive comments on his Facebook post, including from his former pop star and model fiancée, Dominika Peczynski.
Peczynski, a member of 90s band Army of Lovers who once posed for Playboy Scandinavia, is now a PR executive who started dating Borg after his divorce from the mother of his three children in 2015. She wrote, 'I love you Anders, I know it wasn't the real you that was on show'.
Then, after being reported to the police, Borg said in a follow up Facebook post on August 5 that he couldn’t comment on the situation further.
“My apology on Facebook was because I had behaved unpleasantly,” he said. “It should not be interpreted as an acknowledgment of crime. I have not done anything wrong.” In an e-mail to Dagens Industri, Borg announces that he’s gonna seek help after the incident.
Police are conducting with a preliminary investigation triggered by a complaint based on the media reports, Swedish radio Ekot reported on Monday.
According to Bloomberg, the spokeswoman for the WEF, where Borg serves as a Chairman, said in an email that the group is “following the developments closely” but doesn’t comment on ongoing investigations.
All things considered, Borg's experience could make for a very informative - not to mention extremely popular - panel discussion at the next annual WEF boondoggle in Davos: "how elites behave in public when drunk."