Pal Lonseth, chief of the specialised Okokrim financial crimes unit, says Jagland suspected of ‘aggravated corruption’.
Printed On 12 Feb 2026
Norwegian police say that that they had performed searches of properties owned by former Prime Minister Thorbjorn Jagland as a part of a corruption investigation into his connections with the late intercourse offender Jeffrey Epstein.
The probe was initiated after paperwork launched by the US Division of Justice in January indicated that Jagland and/or members of his household might have stayed at or vacationed at Epstein’s residences between 2011 and 2018, the AFP information company reported.
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Norwegian tv footage confirmed investigators carrying a number of bins from Jagland’s condominium in Oslo in the course of the searches on Thursday.
Jagland, 74, served as Norway’s prime minister from 1996 to 1997 and in the course of the interval talked about within the recordsdata, he was serving as chairman of the Norwegian Nobel Committee and as secretary-general of the Council of Europe.
Within the paperwork launched by the US Justice Division, Epstein referred to him as “the Nobel large shot”, the AFP information company reported.
Pal Lonseth, chief of the specialised Okokrim financial crimes unit, stated that Jagland’s residence in Oslo had been searched and that he was now formally suspected of “aggravated corruption”.
His lawyer, Anders Brosveet, confirmed the searches and acknowledged that they had been normal process in all these investigations.
“Jagland needs to contribute to making sure that the case is completely clarified, and the subsequent step is that he’ll seem for questioning by Okokrim – as he himself has acknowledged he desires,” Brosveet stated.
The raids had been enabled by the Council of Europe’s Committee of Ministers by waiving Jagland’s diplomatic immunity on Wednesday, following a request from Norwegian authorities. Police informed the council within the request that they’re investigating whether or not the advantages Jagland might have acquired may quantity to “passive bribery”.
Okokrim cited repeated cases, between 2011 and 2018, when Jagland and/or members of his household made use of Epstein’s flats in Paris and New York, in addition to stays at his property in Palm Seaside, Florida.
“For at the least one in every of these non-public holidays, journey bills for six adults seem to have been coated by Mr. Epstein,” Okokrim wrote.
After beforehand sustaining that his ties with Epstein had been a part of regular diplomatic actions, Jagland informed the newspaper Aftenposten this month that he had proven “poor judgement”.
