It was Sandnes Sparebank who announced one in Monday stock exchange announcement that it was fined for not having frozen a suspicious account quickly enough.
The account the fine applies to is a client account that mulla Krekar’s lawyer, Brynjar Meling, created for Krekar, where the money was to be used for legal assistance in Italy. Meling therefore believes that the account is legal.
– This is a court scandal. Sandnes Sparebank has not done anything wrong. Here, Norway is committing a new assault on mullah Krekar and this time it also affects an innocent bank, Meling tells TV 2.
PST confirms to VG that a fine has been issued to Sandnes Sparebank and that it has been sent to them. They do not want to comment on the matter further to TV 2 on Monday night, because the bank has not yet taken a position on the fine.
Disagree with the fine
The bank writes in the stock exchange listing that they “immediately contacted Økokrim for further guidance and followed all advice given.”
It was VG who first mentioned the fine on Monday.
The bank disagrees with the fine. The board of Sandnes Sparebank has not decided whether they will adopt the fine or whether it is appropriate to have the case tried in court. The deadline for adopting the fine is 19 November.
Mulla Krekar has been sentenced to twelve years in prison for terrorist planning in Italy, but appealed the verdict to the Supreme Court. Since Krekar is on the UN terror list, the bank has a duty to withhold the money. Meling points out that there are exceptions if the money is to go to legal aid.
– Are there not good reasons to freeze money that is going in the direction of mullah Krekar?
– We have been completely open that this should go to legal assistance. Then there are clear exceptions, also in the context of terrorist financing, with the fact that you can use money to go to legal aid. We chose to be neat to have a separate client account with the name of Najmuddin Faraj Ahmad (mulla Krekar) on, and not take it into a regular client account. We could keep things hidden if we wanted to, but we wanted to be transparent. The answer to PST is thus to give a million fine to an innocent bank, says Meling.
– Abuse of the bank
Because the approximately 50,000 kroner that was collected for the lawyer in Italy has been frozen in the account in Norway, Krekar can also not pay for legal assistance to have the appeal processed.
– In 2019, Mulla Krekar was sentenced to 12 years in prison in Italy for terrorist planning. Photo: Lise Åserud
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– First, we apply for free legal aid for use by defense counsel in Italy. We are refused this. Then we try to raise money for the lawyer. They are first blocked in an account with Sandnes Sparebank, then Sandnes Sparebank is fined for having created a client account with my bank connection with the name of mulla Krekar.
– This is a legal scandal, this is an abuse of the bank, and is done to scare the bank away from ensuring that Mulla Krekar receives legal assistance in Italy.
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