Eleven current and former foreign and development ministers face parliamentary questioning over government grants and contacts linked to the late US sex offender
Norway’s parliament has begun a public inquiry into ties the country’s political and diplomatic elite had with US pedophile and financier Jeffrey Epstein. Eleven current and former foreign and development ministers, including Prime Minister Jonas Gahr Stoere, who served as foreign minister from 2005 to 2012, will face questioning.
The Epstein files released by the US Department of Justice earlier this year revealed his often toxic connections to politicians, royals, and other prominent figures, for whom he is thought to have provided underage girls for sex. The disclosures have prompted parliamentary and police investigations in Norway.
The Norwegian parliamentary Standing Committee on Scrutiny and Constitutional Affairs is examining the Foreign Ministry’s handling of international aid funds, internal oversight mechanisms, and whether personal relationships involving Epstein may have influenced government decisions. Committee member Jonas Andersen Sayed has said the government must explain what it is doing to restore trust in the foreign service.
Questions are also swirling over Norway’s funding of the International Peace Institute (IPI), which received around 130 million kroner ($13.5 million) from the Foreign Ministry between 1997 and 2018. The international think tank was led by Norwegian diplomat Terje Roed-Larsen from 2005 to 2020.
Norway, home to the Nobel Peace Prize and a longstanding player in international diplomacy, has faced heightened scrutiny over Epstein’s connections to its political and diplomatic circles.
Roed-Larsen, a central figure in the 1990s Middle East peace talks and a key architect of the 1993 Oslo Accords, is among several prominent Norwegians under investigation by Norway’s economic crime authority, Oekokrim, following the disclosure of the Epstein files.
Former Prime Minister Thorbjoern Jagland and former diplomat Mona Juul are also under investigation. Juul and Jagland are suspected of aggravated corruption, while Roed-Larsen is suspected of complicity in aggravated corruption. All three have denied wrongdoing.
Former Foreign Minister Boerge Brende, meanwhile, testified before the committee after stepping down as president and CEO of the World Economic Forum in February amid scrutiny of his contacts with Epstein.
Separately, the parliament has appointed an independent commission of academics and legal experts to examine matters raised by the Epstein files. The commission is due to submit its findings by January 31, 2028.
