Ebbe Carlsson; Conducted Secret Probe of Palme Slaying

Ebbe Carlsson, 44, an editor and publisher whose secret investigation of Prime Minister Olof Palme’s assassination brought down the justice minister and top police officials. His secret investigation was disclosed in June, 1988, and caused a major uproar in Sweden. Palme’s 1986 murder remains unsolved. The minister of justice, Anna-Greta Leijon; the head of national police, Nils-Erik Ahmansson, and the head of the secret police, Sune Sandstrom, were forced to resign after they admitted approving Carlsson’s secret investigation, which was independent of the police inquiry. Carlsson believed that the police had neglected to pursue investigation of the outlawed Kurdish Workers Party in connection with Palme’s assassination. Part of his inquiry involved tapping the phones of Kurdish immigrants and refugees. During the 1970s, Carlsson worked as press spokesman in the Ministry of Justice and was later editor of a regional newspaper, Vastgota-Demokraten. He became involved in publishing in 1979 and was given a top post in the respected publishing house Bonniers. In Stockholm on Monday of AIDS.