Overview
- Public hearings began on Wednesday with Parliament summoning 11 current and former foreign and development ministers, including Prime Minister Jonas Gahr Stoere, who has denied any relationship with Epstein.
- The inquiries follow the US Department of Justice’s January release of millions of Epstein-related documents that prompted international reporting and scrutiny of Norway’s elite.
- Reports cited by prosecutors say the Foreign Ministry gave roughly 130 million kroner in grants from 1997 to 2018 to the International Peace Institute, which was led by Terje Rod-Larsen, a central figure in the coverage.
- Norway’s economic crime authority Okokrim is investigating specific corruption allegations linked to Terje Rod-Larsen, Mona Juul and Thorbjorn Jagland, and the fallout has already prompted apologies and a World Economic Forum resignation by Borge Brende.
- Parliament has appointed a rare external commission of academics and legal experts to conduct a broad review of diplomatic practice with a final report due in early 2028, a step aimed at producing reforms and restoring public confidence.