7.  The applicant was born in 1949 and lives in Leksand. 8.  On 3 May 1993 the Tax Authority (skattemyndigheten) of the County of Dalarna decided to carry out a tax audit of KB Forward, a construction company owned by the applicant and his two brothers. As a result, value-added tax (mervärdeskatt) of more than 7 million Swedish kronor (SEK), including tax surcharges, was levied on the company. 9.  Unable to pay this sum, the company was declared bankrupt on 16 December 1993, at its own request. 10.  On 18 March 1994 the public prosecutor opened, on the basis of the findings of the tax audit, a preliminary investigation against the applicant. 11.  On 3 May 1999 the public prosecutor indicted the applicant for an aggravated bookkeeping offence (grovt bokföringsbrott) or, in the alternative, for having grossly impeded tax supervision (försvårande av skattekontroll, grovt brott). 12.  By a decision of 25 January 2000, the District Court rejected the applicant's request that the criminal case be dismissed on formal grounds. On 6 April 2000 the Svea Court of Appeal (Svea hovrätt) upheld the District Court's decision and on 18 May 2000 the Supreme Court (Högsta domstolen) refused leave to appeal. 13.  By a judgment of 28 March 2001, the District Court acquitted the applicant, whilst acknowledging that the proceedings had been excessively long.  On 18 April 2001, no appeal having been lodged, the District Court's judgment acquired legal force. 14.  On 20 April 2001 the applicant submitted a claim for pecuniary compensation to the Chancellor of Justice (Justitiekanslern), in which he maintained that the slow handling of his case had constituted a wrongful act or omission within the meaning of the Tort Liability Act (Skadeståndslagen, 1972:207) and that, thus, the Swedish State was liable to pay compensation. 15.  By a decision of 30 October 2003, the Chancellor of Justice rejected the applicant's claim, disagreeing with the District Court's view on the length of the proceedings.