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[ti:In the Public Interest]
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[00:01.50]Lesson 53
[00:03.68]In the public interest
[00:12.41]What could not be reported in the official files?
[00:18.03]The Scandinavian countries are much admired all over the world for their enlightened social policies.
[00:25.77]Sweden has evolved an excellent system for protecting the individual citizen from high-handed or incompetent public officers.
[00:34.68]The system has worked so well, that it has been adopted in other countries too.
[00:40.53]The Swedes were the first to recognize that public officials like civil servants,
[00:46.23]police officers, health inspectors or tax-collectors can make mistakes
[00:51.74]or act over-zealously in the belief that they are serving the public.
[00:56.76]As long ago as 1809,
[00:59.90]the Swedish Parliament introduced a scheme to safeguard the interest of the individual.
[01:05.94]A parliamentary committee representing all political parties appoints a person
[01:11.52]who is suitably qualified to investigate private grievances against the State.
[01:17.18]The official title of the person is 'Justiteombudsman', but the Swedes commonly refer to him as the 'J.O.' or 'Ombudsman'.
[01:28.07]The Ombudsman is not subject to political pressure.
[01:32.06]He investigates complaints large and small that come to him from all levels of society.