Norway’s parliamentary oversight committee has unanimously decided to launch a rare external inquiry into the foreign ministry’s connections to Jeffrey Epstein, amid a growing scandal over ties with the late convicted U.S. sex offender.
The release of a cache of new files in the US has revealed a host of new Epstein connections with politicians, royals and the ultra-rich across Europe, News.Az reports, citing foreign media.
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Norway’s police have opened an investigation into Thorbjoern Jagland, former prime minister, foreign minister and ex-chair of the Nobel Peace Prize committee, on suspicion of aggravated corruption on Tuesday.
On Monday, police announced that Mona Juul, who on Sunday resigned as ambassador to Jordan and Iraq, was also being investigated for corruption. Her husband, former cabinet minister Terje Roed-Larsen, is suspected of complicity.
All three will cooperate with the respective investigations and see no merit in the accusations, their lawyers have said.
But the police’s actions have not stemmed the demand for a public inquiry in a country where officials are expected to be squeaky-clean.
“If only half of what we have learnt in the last few weeks is true, then this is terrible,” the Labour Party’s Sverre Myrli told reporters after a meeting of parliament’s Standing Committee on Scrutiny and Constitutional Affairs.
The files show, among other things, that Jagland and Epstein’s assistants made detailed plans in 2014 for Jagland, his wife, two children and his son’s girlfriend to visit Epstein at Palm Beach and the Caribbean island that he owned.
Jagland, then secretary general of the Council of Europe rights watchdog, has denied ever visiting Epstein’s private island.
In an email in 2014, he sought Epstein’s help in financing an apartment in Oslo.
Emails from 2018 showed Epstein asking Jagland to arrange for him to meet Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov and saying he had insights to offer President Vladimir Putin.
Jagland promised to bring it up with Lavrov’s assistant.
