Former Members of Parliament to be further investigated

The National Authority for the Investigation and Prosecution of Economic Crimes (ØKOKRIM) has decided to reopen an investigation case where six former Members of Parliament are alleged to have received higher pensions than they were entitled to.

In August last year it became known that the Auditor General had concluded that the six members of Parliament had unlawfully received altogether NOK 5,7 million more in pension payments than they had been entitled to. 

The six have said that they had submitted their pension claims based on the Parliament’s own pension regulations, and that they had acted in good faith. The six are former prime ministers Gro Harlem Brundtland and Kjell Magne Bondevik, Anders Talleraas, Magnus Stangeland, Tore Austad  and Thor Erik-Guldbrandsen.

Criticism has also been directed at the Parliament’s own handling and interpretation of the pension regulations, and many have proposed that the MPs pensions be handled by an outside agency.

Økokrim, which is both a police unit and a prosecution authority, was created in 1989, and its main office is in Oslo. The unit is organized in multidisciplinary teams headed by public prosecutors. Each team has a specific field of expertise, such as corruption, computer crime or fraud.

Source: NRK / The Norway Post.