Norway Opens Inquiry Into Political and Diplomatic Ties to Epstein

By Staff, Agencies

Norway’s parliament has launched a public inquiry into ties between the country’s political and diplomatic elite and US financier and convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein.

Eleven current and former foreign and development ministers, including Prime Minister Jonas Gahr Stoere, are expected to face questioning. Stoere served as Norway’s foreign minister from 2005 to 2012.

The inquiry was launched after files released by the US Department of Justice earlier this year revealed Epstein’s connections to politicians, royals and other prominent figures. The disclosures have since prompted parliamentary and police investigations in Norway.

The parliamentary Standing Committee on Scrutiny and Constitutional Affairs is examining the Foreign Ministry’s handling of international aid funds, internal oversight mechanisms, and whether personal relationships involving Epstein may have influenced government decisions.

Committee member Jonas Andersen Sayed said the government must explain what it is doing to restore trust in Norway’s foreign service.

The inquiry is also examining Norway’s funding of the International Peace Institute, which received around 130 million kroner, or $13.5 million, from the Foreign Ministry between 1997 and 2018. The think tank was led by Norwegian diplomat Terje Roed-Larsen from 2005 to 2020.

Roed-Larsen, a prominent figure in the 1990s Middle East peace talks and a key architect of the 1993 Oslo Accords, is among several prominent Norwegians being investigated by Norway’s economic crime authority, Oekokrim, following the release of the Epstein files.

Former Prime Minister Thorbjoern Jagland and former diplomat Mona Juul are also under investigation. Juul and Jagland are suspected of aggravated corruption, while Roed-Larsen is suspected of complicity in aggravated corruption. All three have denied wrongdoing.