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Last year, Økokrim launched an investigation by DNB following revelations by Icelandic fishing group Samherji. The Icelandic group is accused of money laundering and corruption in Namibia.
The case is now one of four Ecocrime investigations in which the head of Ecocrime, Pål Lønseth, has declared himself incompetent.
DN has previously mentioned that Lønseth in early June declared himself incompetent in two investigations. Lønseth has re-assessed and reached the same conclusion in two new cases, including the high-profile investigation of Norway’s largest bank DNB.
Lose cases
Disability makes investigations move. Thus, Økokrim, who is the spearhead of the police and the prosecution aimed at economic crime, loses control of the investigations.
It was this summer that Pål Lønseth in the cabinet was appointed as the new director of Økokrim. Since 2013, he has headed PwC’s research unit in Norway. Before that, he was Secretary of State in the Stoltenberg II government from 2009 to 2013.
– Regarding what will happen next with the case, we can report that the Attorney General has decided that the responsibility for the investigation and prosecution (that is, all responsibility for the case) will be transferred from Økokrim to another prosecutor’s office with a new district associated police. The Attorney General has made the same decision for the other cases where Lønseth has been deemed incompetent, so this is not something that applies specifically to this case, Østbye says.
Where the case will move has yet to be decided.
– The Attorney General awaits further information from Økokrim before such a decision is made. However, clarification is expected to come relatively soon, Østbye says.
Money blocked via DNB
On November 19 last year, the Icelandic newspaper Stundin reported that $ 70 million, equivalent to 670 million crowns at the current exchange rate, had been channeled through DNB through a shell company in the tax haven of the Marshall Islands to Namibia.
Some of the money is said to have come from the activities of the Icelandic fishing company Samherji in Namibia. The company is accused of bribing officials to guarantee access to horse mackerel quotas.
After the reveal Økokrim announced that the agency will investigate DNB in connection with the Samherji case.
How much of the money has been funneled through DNB is unknown, which may be linked to possible money laundering and possible bribery. The bank terminated the client’s relationship with the fishing company following the disclosures.(Terms)Copyright Dagens Næringsliv AS and / or our suppliers. We would like you to share our cases via a link, which leads directly to our pages. Copying or other use of all or part of the content can only be done with written permission or as permitted by law. For more terms, see here.
Here, DN’s Gøran Skaalmo explains what you need to know about the Samherji case
Iceland’s largest seafood group, Samherji, is said to have used Norway’s leading bank DNB to funnel up to NOK 650 million through tax havens.
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