[ad_1]
In the United States: The then Minister of Industry, Commerce and Social Affairs, Torbjørn Røe Isaksen (H), assisted incoming oil fund manager Nicolai Tangen (53) who he called “a dream seminar”. Photo: Trond Viken, NFD
Prime Minister Torbjørn Røe Isaksen (H) was among the participants at the Nicolai Tangen seminar in the United States in November. It was not until this week that he realized that Tangen was counting meals. Now he will pay.
VG recounted on Saturday how Nicolai Tangen (53) spent millions of dollars on a spectacular three-day conference for friends and acquaintances in the United States. A few months before being hired as the new head of the Petroleum Fund.
Guests enjoyed dinners, receptions, and concerts with world stars Sting and jazz artist Gregory Porter. Around 40 Norwegians participated, including several community summits. The then Minister of Industry, the current Minister of Labor and Social Affairs, Torbjørn Røe Isaksen (H), also participated in what Tangen described VG as a private event.
read also
This is how the social peoples supported the Petroleum-Tangen Fund on their way to the job of boss
Isaksen has informed VG that he participated as a minister in the entire conference, including a private concert by Sting. The ministry covered hotels and travel, but not meals.
Guests dined at the exclusive Barnes Foundation, where Porter played.
After VG asked questions about the trip, this week Røe Isaksen informed VG that he would record the meals in the Storting’s registry of interest and financial obligations.
The registry must provide information on public relations and financial interests that the public must know.
Tonight, the United Nations delegation announced that it would ask Tangen for a refund for the stay of UN Ambassador Mona Juul, after calling it a “regrettable mistake.”
Røe Isaksen now follows him.
Pay to
On Sunday night, the Minister of State told VG that he also wants the ministry to pay more.
– As a business minister, it is very common to attend events and conferences where meals are covered by others, both private and public. It is part of the job to represent Norway and meet the business community in different contexts. I did not make another evaluation for this conference. I agree with that, but for the sake of order, I would request that the food bill be sent to the Ministry during the conference.
SPENT: Nicolai Tangen will start as head of the Petroleum Fund in September. Photo: Nina E. Rangoy
Oil Fund Facts
Criticizes lack of transparency
VG wrote on Saturday that the seminar was not on the official Røe Isaacsen calendar with the Ministry of Commerce and Industry. Nor was it mentioned in a letter to the Norwegian press about the trip to the United States or in the NTB message.
The deputy director of the Labor Party, Hadia Tajik, criticizes the minister for the lack of transparency about his participation in the seminar.
CRITICAL: Deputy Director of the Labor Party, Hadia Tajik, believes that Røe Isaksen has not shown sufficient transparency about her participation in the incoming tour of the administrator of the Petroleum Fund Nicolai Tang by the United States in November. Photo: Frode Hansen, VG
– I noticed that Torbjørn Røe Isaksen insists that he participate as a minister all three days and that his ministry paid. But he kept his participation hidden from his official Cabinet program and did not inform members of the press who attended the US tour. It may seem that you expected your participation to go unnoticed. If so, it is worth criticizing, Tayik told VG.
Prime Minister Røe Isaksen was in the United States before the seminar, including to meet with United States Secretary of Commerce Wilbur Ross. The Ministry sent photos of this part of the tour.
Prime Minister Rowe meets with the United States Secretary of Commerce Wilbur Ross. Photo: NFD
Tang had asked the guests not to share photos from the seminar. So far, VG guests have asked to follow that invitation, or had no photos to share from the three days.
– There was certainly no attempt to hide my participation. As I said, this seminar has been run in a very ordinary way in the ministry, including press invitations to the trip to the United States, which mainly includes meetings with official officials of the United States. But I have to make sure that this seminar is also included, because as I said, it was quite open that I participated, Isaksen writes in a comment to VG.
He also rejects any knowledge of the contracting process that ended with Nicolai Tangen becoming the new administrator of the Petroleum Fund.
– I have not spoken to anyone before, during or after the seminar about who should get the position, and did not know that Tangen was evaluated or was part of the process, Røe Isaksen tells VG.
– not a friend
Explain participation as follows:
– The invitation I received was for a seminar in collaboration with Wharton Business School with speakers and participants from the United States, Europe and Norway. Among the around 150 participants were also several key Norwegian and international business figures. I was asked to participate in a panel discussion, but I also felt that the conference was professionally relevant to an Industry Minister, as well as a space to meet international business people. If I hadn’t been serious, I wouldn’t have participated.
– I am not a friend or close friend of Nicolai Tangen. Before the conference, I met him once on Henrik Syse’s birthday and once as Minister of Knowledge at a meeting with education contractors he supported.
The administrator of the Slyngstad oil fund announced that he would resign on October 30 of last year. The Tang seminar was organized in November. Tangen has informed VG that he has planned it since May 2018.
On March 26 of this year, Norges Bank announced that Tangen will take over after Slyngstad. The pliers are scheduled to start in September.
read also
Norges Bank will investigate Slyngstad’s trip to the US USA
VG is based on good advice from our readers. Contact us by email ([email protected]) ([email protected]) ([email protected]) or encrypted message through Signal or WhatsApp at +4745291836.
Do not accept gifts
VG has asked Prime Minister Erna Solberg (H) to respond to criticism that Isaksen did not enter the American seminary on his official program. The Prime Minister’s Office (SMK) does not directly answer VG’s questions, but writes in a comment:
– We have clear rules about what you can receive as a member of the government or government employee. It is not possible to accept gifts, travel, hotel stays, meals or other benefits that are appropriate or that the donor intends to influence what we do in our work, Erna Solberg tells VG through Secretary of State Rune Alstadsæther.
– In the case of trips or seminars in the office, it must be paid by the employer in the usual way. It’s also important to have full transparency about it, says Solberg.
Artist Sting performed Saturday night, November 16, last year for seminar guests at Punchline in Philadelphia.
Isaksen writes in an email to VG that participation has been handled in the normal manner and in accordance with standard event participation practice.
– I was on a longer trip that week, including in Qatar with the Crown Prince and in the United States for a visit to Washington DC, where I met with the Minister of Commerce, among other things. Consequently, the Ministry paid for travel and hotels in the usual way because I participated as Minister of State. The invitation to the seminar and to participate in the program was recorded and processed in the Ministry in the usual way. I have not traveled to the United States to attend this seminar, Røe Isaksen tells VG.
New head of the Petroleum Fund, Nicolai Tangen (53).
