After two weeks as head of the Økokrim, Pål Lønseth has now declared himself incompetent in two ongoing investigations. Now it is now to be considered whether he must also declare himself incompetent in the investigation of DNB.
Eco-Crime Chief Pål Lønseth
–Krister Sørbø / E24
Published:
It writes NRK Sunday night.
– The issue of incompatibility in the DNB case has not been settled. Otherwise, I consider ongoing issues of disability as I get an overview of the case portfolio, Lønseth tells the channel.
Back in November, Økokrim opened investigations against DNB in the wake of alleged corruption in Namibia. This happened after it became known that DNB must have been central to transactions where, among other things, Namibian officials have been paid bribes by the Icelandic fishing giant Samherji in connection with fishing quotas.
– I have been affected in that case by being a lawyer for a company that is probably very much in the margins of that investigation, and perhaps far beyond. But it is one of the issues that I am familiar with and that we must consider specific issues of disability, but we have not made a decision there, says Lønseth.
The newly appointed Økokrim boss further states that the team working with the case has been told that he may be incompetent in the case, and that he therefore will not have access to the case beyond understanding what it is about.
The decision on whether Lønseth is incompetent will not be taken until the summer, NRK writes.
When the case became known, DNB’s then Director of Information Even Westerveld told E24 that the bank had a good dialogue with Økokrim and that the decision to start investigations led to the bank being able to share everything they know about the case with Økokrim, including confidential customer information.
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Økokrim’s new boss: – Not that we should run the big sledgehammer on everything
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