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The manager of Ecocrime, Pål Lønseth, declares himself incompetent in the investigation of the transactions carried out through DNB by the Icelandic fishing group Samherji.
Ecocrime’s manager, Pål Lønseth, declared himself incompetent in the investigation of transactions carried out through DNB by the Icelandic fishing group Samherji.
Lise Åserud / NTB
Published:,
In an email to NRK, prosecutor Heidi Reinholdt-Østbye writes that the issue of impartiality has been assessed on the basis of a legal assignment dating from before Lønseth started as head of Økokrim.
In November last year, Økokrim began working to find out if anything criminal had happened in connection with the DNB transactions carried out by the Icelandic fishing group Samherji. The Icelandic group is accused of money laundering and corruption in Namibia.
Since 2013, Lønseth has headed the investigation unit of the law firm PwC and has been involved in several important investigation cases. It is not stated what specifically triggers the disability in this current case.
Announced in June
Shortly after Lønseth was appointed head of Økokrim in mid-June, he made it clear that he could be incompetent in at least two complex cases. One of them was the Samherji / DNB case.
– So far, I have considered it with two specific research cases in mind. I was familiar with both cases before taking office and I have already pointed out that for both cases I would be incompetent. I’ve already decided, and the Attorney General will be informed of that, he told NRK in late June.
Samherji, Iceland’s largest fishing group, is said to have used DNB to transfer income from fishing in Africa, according to WikiLeaks documents. The company fishes, among other things, horse mackerel outside of Namibia, and part of the proceeds are said to have been used to bribe Namibian officials to secure quotas, according to Icelandic media.
According to the Icelandic newspaper Stundin, $ 70 million is said to have been funneled through DNB through a shell company in the tax haven of the Marshall Islands into Namibia.
The case is moving
Økokrim will not comment on the case to NTB, but refers to the Attorney General, who has yet to comment.
The Attorney General informs NRK that the evaluation of the impartiality of the Økokrim boss himself is used as a basis.
– With regard to what will happen to the case below, we can report that the Attorney General has decided that the responsibility for the investigation and prosecution (i.e. all responsibility for the case) will shift from Økokrim to another prosecution with a new associated police district. 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, writes Reinholdt-Østbye.
Lønseth has previously pleaded incompetent in the investigation of a former UDI lawyer for possible corruption. In this case, PwC carried out an investigation on behalf of the UDI, which led to the case being reported to Økokrim, according to Dagens Næringsliv.
