Pál Lonseth, head of the elite Okrocrim economic crimes unit, says Jagland is suspected of ‘serious corruption’.
Norwegian police say they have searched properties owned by former Prime Minister Thorbjorn Jagland as part of a corruption investigation into his ties to late sex offender Jeffrey Epstein.
The investigation was launched after documents released by the US Justice Department in January indicated that Jagland and/or members of his family had stayed or vacationed at Epstein’s residence between 2011 and 2018, the AFP news agency reported.
Recommended Stories
list of 3 itemsend of list
Norwegian television footage showed investigators taking several boxes from Jagland’s apartment in Oslo during a search on Thursday.
Jagland, 74, served as Prime Minister of Norway from 1996 to 1997 and during the period outlined in the files, he served as chairman of the Norwegian Nobel Committee and secretary general of the Council of Europe.
According to the report of news agency AFP, Epstein has called him “Nobel Big Shot” in documents released by the US Justice Department.
Pål Lønseth, head of the special Okrocrim economic crimes unit, said that Jagland’s residence in Oslo had been searched and that he was now formally suspected of “serious corruption”.
His lawyer, Anders Brosvet, confirmed the searches and said they were standard procedure in this type of investigation.
“Jagland wants to contribute to ensuring that the matter is fully clarified, and the next step is that he will appear for questioning by Okokrim – as he himself has said he wants to do,” Broshwaite said.
Following a request by Norwegian authorities, the Council of Europe’s Committee of Ministers enabled the raid by waiving Jagland’s diplomatic immunity on Wednesday. Police told the council in the request that they were investigating whether the benefits Jagland received could have been a “passive bribe”.
Okokrim cited repeated instances between 2011 and 2018, when Jagland and/or members of her family used Epstein’s apartments in Paris and New York, as well as staying at his property in Palm Beach, Florida.
“For at least one of these private vacations, travel expenses for six adults appear to have been covered by Mr. Epstein,” Okokrim wrote.
After previously saying her relationship with Epstein was part of normal diplomatic activities, Jagland told the newspaper Aftenposten this month that she had shown “poor judgment.”
<a href