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Defendant: business owner Laila Mjeldheim at the now defunct Map Company. Photo: Geir Olsen
Laila Mjeldheim, owner of Det norske kartselskapet, is accused of defrauding Norwegian companies and municipalities for NOK 62 million.
The indictment was issued by the Economic Investigation and Special Literature Section in the Oslo Police District, which since the fall of 2018 has been investigating Laila Mjeldheim and the Norwegian Map Company.
According to the indictment, Mjeldheim through his company has attracted several Norwegian companies for NOK 62 million in a period of five years from January 1, 2015 to June 26, 2020.
Laila Mjeldheim has always denied criminal guilt for gross fraud.
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LOCAL: Since autumn 2018, Det norske kartselskapet has been operating from these facilities in Ryen in Oslo. Now the company is bankrupt. Photo: Tore Kristiansen
The prosecution: valuable products
“The company’s customers were illegally tricked into signing an agreement to buy virtually worthless products by the company’s telemarketers who did not disclose key and specifics of the products and provided misleading and / or incorrect information about the products “.it says in the indictment.
Specifically, the police believe that this happened when they got the offended “to enter into agreements for the purchase of digital map products, Internet catalogs and search services, as well as GPS products.”
According to the indictment, a “significant proportion of customers” were also misled into believing that “a customer relationship already existed between them and the company.” This meant that they entered into agreements to purchase Kartselskapet’s products on a “failed” basis.
“The company also sent invoices to the companies, despite the fact that there was no agreement on the purchase of the company’s products,” the indictment says.
ATTORNEY: Alexander Greaker will defend Laila Mjeldheim in court along with attorney Øystein Storrvik. Photo: Terje Mortensen
Defender: Out of all dimensions
– On behalf of Mjeldheim, we believe that this accusation is not true at all. We will present a series of evidence through customers who have seen the value of the product and through audio recordings of sales calls that are secured through police seizures, says defense attorney Alexander Greaker.
Together with lawyer Øystein Storrvik, he will defend Mjeldheim when the case reaches the Oslo District Court.
– This accusation is out of all dimension, says Greaker.
– What do you mean?
– The police are relying on the fact that every sale of Mjeldheim, including the one that took over as CEO, is a fraud. We think this seems completely unrealistic. We are stunned by this, of course, Greaker replies.
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– Taught to cheat
In spring 2018, VG revealed through hidden audio recordings how Kartselskapet has trained drug addicts to manipulate customers through phone sales.
The Norwegian map company was established in 2007 and has since sold digital map tickets to public and private companies for around NOK 150 million.
In June, it emerged that the Oslo police district had recorded a liability of NOK 50 million on the two Mjeldheim apartments, as a result of the serious fraud investigation.
Laila Mjeldheim later declared Kartselskapet bankrupt.
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COMPANIONS: Laila Mjeldheim along with self-proclaimed therapist Espen Andresen, who claims it helped both her and several of her employees. Photo: Caroline Bremer
Academy of addictions
VG has also told the story of the connection between the Norwegian map company and the controversial therapist Espen Andresen at the Academy of Addiction.
Employees of the map company had to go to therapy with Andresen for several years.
Mjeldheim has previously stated that he paid 80,000 kroner a month from Map Company to Andresen for his services.
Former clients of the Addiction Academy spoke about name calling, social control, and pressure to pay large sums of money for courses, after-hours group therapy and travel.
Andresen denies doing anything reprehensible. The police have withdrawn all reports against him, but the Tax Administration imposed an additional tax of 1.5 million crowns.
