I gave false travel invoices to the Storting. Mazyar Keshvari has been sentenced to 11 months in prison by the Supreme Court

The former FRP politician used his parliamentary post to defraud the state treasury of 450,000 crowns. The Supreme Court attaches great importance to how Keshvari has abused the trust of the community.

Keshvari had previously been sentenced to seven months of unconditional imprisonment in both the district court and the court of appeal.

The Supreme Court has now increased the sentence to eleven months in prison.

Frp’s then-parliamentary representative was reported to the police after Aftenposten in October 2018 revealed that he had submitted false travel invoices to the Storting. In total, this amounts to NOK 450,000 fraud.

Supreme Court: Keshvari took advantage of a scheme that was easy to abuse

A key element in the case has been whether Keshvari will receive harsher punishment because he has abused his position as a representative in the Storting.

The Storting has had a trust-based travel expense system. This made it possible for Keshvari to receive large sums without having to provide any documentation that the trips had been completed.

“He has taken advantage of the fact that the scheme, due to the special considerations that exist, was easy to abuse, with a low risk of detection,” writes the Supreme Court in the ruling.

John Christian Elden is Keshvari’s defender. He has argued that the former FRP politician should be treated the same as everyone else. The Supreme Court paid little attention to this. The verdict states that Keshvari has committed a serious breach of trust, and that this must be taken into account.

– The Supreme Court has nearly doubled the sentence and concluded that the serious breach of trust will result in a significant increase in the sentence, says State Attorney Monica Krag Pettersen.

The prosecution has previously filed a demand for a year and a half in prison for Keshvari. Both the district court and the court of appeal have emphasized the position of confidence in their judgments. However, the prosecution appealed the sentence to the Supreme Court. They thought that Keshvari’s punishment was not harsh enough.

I left Frp

Keshvari admitted what he had done when Aftenposten made its findings and later cooperated with the police in the investigation.

Keshvari was a present estate representative of former Finance Minister Siv Jensen. He was reported to be ill after the Aftenposten revelations. Then Carl I. Hagen met in his place. The Storting then paid full remuneration (NOK 987,000 per year) to both.
He resigned from the FRP in the fall of 2019. Keshvari lost his seat in the Storting when Siv Jensen returned after leaving the FRP government in January 2020.

Labor politicians still under investigation

Aftenposten also revealed that Labor Party parliamentary representative Hege Haukeland Liadal submitted false travel invoices and was paid for private trips. This case has been under investigation since the Storting reported Liadal to the police in April 2019.

Police have not been able to respond when the investigation ends. Meanwhile, Liadal meets at the Storting as usual. She has denied having purposely provided false travel invoices and believes this is due to mistakes and misunderstandings.