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Investor Berge Gerdt Larsen is suing the state with a record NOK 900 million claim for compensation and redress after criminal proceedings.
Berge Gerdt Larsen smiled gently for the photographer at the Oil Industry Policy seminar in Sandefjord in January this year, but he is not so happy with the Norwegian authorities.
Marius Lorentzen / E24
Published:,
“The State Civil Law Administration awards Berge Gerdt Larsen NOK 50,000 as restitution. Claims for compensation for economic loss are rejected. Claims for compensation for legal fees are rejected ”, is stated in a 19-page decision of the State Administration of Civil Law in early June this year.
Investor Berge Gerdt Larsen received a blank rejection of the record claim of approx. NOK 900 million that he presented to the state last year for financial compensation and reparation after criminal proceedings.
Larsen has now responded to the refusal in June this year to convene first the Ministry of Justice and then the Ministry of Finance.
Fight for almost two decades
Larsen’s conflict with the Norwegian authorities has spanned nearly two decades (see schedule below). It all started with a tax case in 2002 and will now end with your claim for damages. Larsen was the first to be in a defensive position, but he has gone on a series of counterattacks after the criminal case against him was finally acquitted by the Gulating Court of Appeal in 2016.
In addition to the actual action for financial compensation and reparation, Larsen and the Norwegian state have also yelled together in several other related lawsuits in the wake of the Court of Appeal ruling.
Things got bitter early on between Larsen and the authorities, when the tax office in Bergen in 2004 wanted to change its tax assessment. And after Larsen found out in February 2006 through a great article in Bergens Tidende that he had been charged with gross tax evasion, things completely changed.
Larsen (# 2 left to right) along with his attorneys in district court in September 2012. It didn’t go well. But he cruelly returned to the Court of Appeal in 2015.
Marit Hommedal / NTB scanpix
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Failure to appeal the acquittal of Berge Gerdt Larsen
He refused to explain
Larsen did not want to be questioned by the police and first gave a full explanation in the Court of Appeal.
The fact that Larsen did not want to explain himself to the police is the main reason why the State Civil Law Administration has completely rejected his background claim. Larsen’s claim is based primarily on his estimated financial loss during the period in which he was charged, prosecuted and convicted.
– Why didn’t Larsen explain?
– This was a criminal case based on underlying tax cases. In tax cases, Larsen had explained himself in detail to the tax authorities for several years. However, the tax authorities denounced Larsen for the alleged lack of information, in other words, that he must have provided incorrect information, responds Larsen’s lawyer, Eirik Øverland.
– Should I wish now after having given an explanation?
– Larsen gave an explanation to the Court of Appeal, as the case had entered a justifiable framework, and Larsen had had full access to the extensive supporting documentation in the case and had been given a reasonable time to review it, Øverland maintains.
– The explanation lasted more than twenty court days and was based on previous explanations that Larsen had given to the tax authorities, but which neither the tax authority nor the prosecution believed. The Gulating Court of Appeal, for its part, based these explanations on the acquittal, Øverland continues.
Senior Advisor Else Kristine Lien in the State Administration of Civil Law.
The administration of the civil law of the State
The police escape gives 50,000 crowns
Out of a total claim of NOK 900 million, Larsen receives only NOK 50,000 in repairs. This is because the police leaked the secret indictment against Bergens Tidende.
– How do you rate the 50,000 crowns under repair?
– The most important thing about reparation is that the State recognizes its responsibility. In Larsen’s opinion, the compensation amount of NOK 50,000 is too low for ten years of unjustified prosecution due to an incorrect legal basis, with enormous media pressure caused by a breach of confidentiality by the police, for which they were convicted, Øverland responds.
The State Administration of Civil Law, which is the body that handles claims for compensation for criminal prosecution, takes note of the claim against the Ministry of Justice.
– We believe that the assessment we have made in our decision is correct, but keep in mind that Larsen has filed a lawsuit for the matter to be tried in court, says Senior Advisor Else Kristine Lien at the State Civil Law Administration.
Jo Lunder held the record for a criminal prosecution compensation claim, at 500 million crowns, until Berge Gerdt Larsen’s claim for 900 million crowns broke that record.
Bringedal, Terje
Thorleif Enger’s compensation appeal will likely be heard in August 2021. In the background are his two defenders during the criminal case, Ellen Holager Andenæs and Jan Erik Teigum.
Stein J. Bjørge
Larsen is not alone
Berge Gerdt Larsen is not alone in suing the state for compensation after criminal prosecution in cases of alleged financial crime.
Jo Lunder, former CEO of mobile phone company VimpelCom and John Fredriksen’s Seatankers business, and Thorleif Enger, former CEO of Yara, have pending cases (see table below).
Enger’s former subordinate at Yara’s corporate leadership, Daniel Clauw, recently withdrew his appeal. Clauw was also convicted of one charge in the district court, but was completely acquitted in the court of appeal. Claw required approx. NOK 17.5 million, but it was rejected by both the civil law administration and the district court.
– Clauw, who lives in France, had appealed the case, but withdrew our appeal after the appeal was postponed due to the crown, says Clauw’s attorney Fredrik Berg at the Fend law firm.
