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Prime Minister Torbjørn Røe Isaksen (H) acknowledges that he should have asked several questions before attending oil fund manager Nicolai Tangen’s “dream seminar”, and is criticized for lack of transparency.
– I see that I made some criticisms that were bad or missing, and that I must criticize myself for it, despite the fact that there were evaluations that I thought they were then, says Isaksen in a press conference on Tuesday.
When he was Minister of Industry, he was one of the participants in the much talked about “dream seminar” of the incoming administrator of oil funds Nicolai Tangen.
In November of last year, the financier invited him to a three-day stay in Philadelphia.
– Was it reckless that you participated?
“I think this was a relevant event to attend as Minister of State and Minister of Industry, but what I criticize is that it should have been more open,” he told VG after the press conference on Tuesday.
He says it was he himself who made the decision to participate, although the ministry department did not recommend that he prioritize the seminary.
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I did not pay the hotel bill
Isaksen previously informed VG that he participated as a minister in the entire conference, including a private concert by Sting that is said to have cost around NKr 9 million. Isaacs claimed that the ministry covered hotels and travel, but not meals.
At the press conference, however, Isaksen says the Ministry did not pay the hotel bill by mistake, but promises to organize it. He previously said he will pay for meals at the seminar.
Isaksen tells VG that the hotel bill for two nights reached NOK 6,000, while they still don’t know the cost of the meal.
– Will you pay the concert with Sting?
– No, we won’t pay for it. We also don’t think there is any gift item here as I don’t know Tangen as a private person, and the event was prepared and planned by the ministry, he replies.
– I should have asked more questions
Isaksen further confirms that planning for the trip to the United States, where he met, among other things, with the United States Secretary of Commerce, began after accepting the Tangen seminar.
– I should have asked several more questions before the conference. It was an event where people participated in very different roles and in very different terms. Some were personal friends, some business partners, and some speakers, says Isaksen.
He notes that it was never relevant to participate as a private person and that it had nothing to do with Tangen’s appointment as oil manager.
– I didn’t know I was a candidate until I read in the media that I was employed.
– I am not a friend of Nicolai Tangen, we have no private contact. The only private contact we have had is a short text message after he obtained his position, where I congratulated him and briefly thanked me.
E24: This is how Tangen and Isaksen communicated about the super seminar: – It may fall a bit between the chairs
MANAGER: Stripping Chief of the Petroleum Fund, Yngve Slyngstad (t.v.), and Striking Chief Nicolai Tangen.
Great seminar
Tangen, who in March of this year was introduced as the new head of the Norwegian Petroleum Fund, hired two private jets and covered hotels, food and beverage and entertainment for many of the nearly 150 participants, Tangen told VG.
Participants at the seminar included Government Prosecutor Fredrik Sejersted, Deputy Manager of the Oil Fund Yngve Slyngstad, former Manager of the Oil Fund Knut Kjær, Minister of State Røe Isaksen (H), Director of the NUPI, Ulf Sverdrup, philosopher Henrik Syse, Board member Knut Brundtland, and several.
Tang’s close ties to central social peaks have been the subject of extensive press coverage in recent days. On Saturday night, Norges Bank announced that it would investigate the Slyngstad trip.
On Tuesday, it was announced that the Norges Bank supervisory body will convene an extraordinary meeting on Wednesday to report on the process around employment.
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That’s how he was invited
VG has obtained information on communication about the American seminar between Isaksen and Tangen.
Isaksen was invited to the United States seminar in May 2018. At the time, Tangen said that several acquaintances of the minister will be on the tour. Henrik Syse, Fredrik Sejersted and Ulf Sverdrup, among others.
In the email, Tangen writes that he can pay for the trip himself if he wants to and that he can take his spouse with him on the trip.
Isaac responds to Tangen five days after the invitation is heard. «very very exciting” But he says he must first check with the ministry if he can officially participate.
“It is an invitation that may fall a bit between presidents, but let me check the evaluations in the ministry if this is also something that I can attend in an official capacity. Will there be a more formal invitation later?
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Norges Bank to pay for Slyngstad stay at Tangen seminar
The seaweeds respond Isaac later that day.
“So cool that you want to join this, it’s so exciting to have him with you. I will send something a little more “official” in a few months. The most important thing now is to get the show nailed down and have the guests mark the dates in the book. “
Tangen’s formal invitation won’t arrive until December 3, 2018. A month later, Isaksen officially thanks him.
“I like to be involved in this. An exciting program that is relevant to a business minister» Isaac writes on January 4, 2019.
