Carl-Fredrik Algernon

Carl Fredrik Robert Algernon (9 October 1925 – 15 January 1987) was a Swedish rear admiral and war materiel inspector.

Carl Algernon was born in Stockholm, Sweden. He became a lecturer at the Swedish National Defence College in 1964. In 1972 he was appointed as commander of Östra militärområdesstaben (a regional military command) and was at the same time promoted to the rank of Kommendör av första graden (corresponding to Commodore). In 1974 he became a head of a division in the Swedish Armed Forces Chief of Staff and in 1978 head of the commando expedition at the Ministry of Defence. In 1978 he was promoted to the rank of rear admiral. In 1981 he was appointed as a war materiel inspector at Krigsmaterielinspektionen (KMI), a governmental agency tasked with supervising and revise exports of war materiel to foreign countries. At the outbreak of the Bofors scandal in the late 1980s he became one of the leading investigators into the scandal despite the fact that he was a personal friend of the CEO of Bofors, Martin Ardbo, for many years.

Algernon died when he was hit by a train at the Stockholm metro station T-Centralen on 15 January 1987. Earlier on the day he had a meeting with the CEO of Nobel Industrier (the new owners of Bofors), Anders Carlberg, about the allegations of smuggling against the company. During the conversation, Carlberg had told Algernon about an internal investigation which had confirmed that smuggling had existed. Due to Algernon's position as a leading investigator of the Bofors scandal, it was speculated that he might have been assassinated (i.e. pushed down on the railway). The subsequent investigation into his death, which ended on 11 March 1987, concluded that he had committed suicide.