The affair came to public knowledge on 1 June 1988, when the evening newspaper Expressen revealed that Ebbe Carlsson, a journalist and publisher and former secretary at the Swedish government, was carrying out an independent and illegal investigation into the assassination of prime minister Olof Palme, secretly supported by the minister for justice Anna-Greta Leijon.
In late 1987, prime minister Ingvar Carlsson summoned Carl Lidbom, the Swedish ambassador to France, to Stockholm.
This was prompted by the escape of convicted spy Stig Bergling as well as the failure to find the assassin of former prime minister Olof Palme.
After prosecutors deemed the police work on the Kurds unsatisfactory and had denied further search warrants and phone tapping along those lines, Holmér stepped down as chief of the inquiry.
He intended to use this when traveling to England where his aim was to talk with a number of people whom he considered knowledgeable on the alleged meeting in Damascus.