Folldal municipality was supposed to export spring water to Shanghai – cancels agreement after news article – news Rogaland – Local news, TV and radio

Business manager Bjørn Skjervold in Folldal municipality can hardly believe his eyes. – This is completely beyond, says Skjervold. news shows a presentation held at a meeting related to the investment project The Gate Index in Stavanger. The man speaking is CEO Geir Skoug. The Norwegian who has emigrated to Cyprus says that the investors own shares in a company that taps and exports spring water to Shanghai – from Folldal municipality. Later, the investors will learn that this company is worth 300 million euros. Folldal municipality completely disagrees with this representation. – So, it appears here as if the agreement is in the box, says business manager Skjervold. Admittedly, the tiny municipality in the north of Innlandet owns large, unused water resources. But a commercial agreement to send large containers of water to Shanghai from Folldal has never been signed. WATER TO SHANGHAI: In autumn 2023, The Gate Index founder Geir Skoug told the investors at the Victoria Hotel about an exclusive agreement with Folldal municipality. The dream of jobs and income Folldal municipality has long wanted to rent out the Krokhaug waterworks, which the municipality has owned for over 40 years. A lease agreement will be able to add much-needed funds to a depleted municipal coffers, and not least jobs. In the spring of 2023, the dream seemed to become a reality: A large majority of the municipality’s politicians agreed to lease the spring water for export to China. – For us, every job counts, says Folldal mayor Kristin Langtjernet (Ap), who was recently told that close to 30 jobs will most likely disappear from the municipality. JOBS: Mayor Kristin Langtjernet (Ap) still wants to create water-related jobs in Folldal. Photo: Magnus Ekeli Mullis Norwegian Spring Water AS won the tender. Everything seemed solid, according to the municipality and the politicians. The company had contacts with the salmon industry, and the municipality got the impression that the Folldal water would follow the “salmon route” to Shanghai. The board included people with experience, including Q Meieriene founder Sverre Gjefsen. Few details remained before the water could be bottled, loaded and shipped to China. – This could be a water adventure for Folldal, says business manager Skjervold. He draws parallels with what the Imsdal brand has meant for the neighboring municipality of Stor-Elvdal. NOT USED: For more than 40 years, the spring water in Krokhaug waterworks has run cleanly into the Svensbekken. Several have wanted commercial use of the water source, without success. Photo: Geir Olav Slåen / news The money There was only one thing missing: confirmation that Norwegian Spring Water had money for the project. In the autumn of 2023, the business manager became impatient. Skjervold called in a digital meeting with the company, where the financing of the project was the most important issue. Mayor Langtjernet also joined the meeting FROM MINES TO WATER: Folldal municipality was long known for mining, but the cornerstone company Folldal Verk closed down in 1993. Now the municipality is looking for new industries. Photo: Geir Olav Slåen / news The municipality’s business manager says he was told that a Swedish investment fund was to come up with the money. He says he never learned the name of the fund. During the meeting, a man who appeared to the municipality as a representative of the Swedish fund provided information. The man’s name was Geir Skoug, and he is said to have said that the financing was not far away. – We received a number of macroeconomic explanations, and it didn’t sound completely crazy. We were assured that everything would be in order very, very soon, says Bjørn Skjervold. Little did Folldal municipality know that Skoug told a completely different story on the other side of the country. A meeting in Stavanger Just over a week before the meeting with Folldal municipality, around 50 investors in The Gate Index gathered at the Victoria Hotel in Stavanger. In addition, the meeting was streamed to people who could not attend. As news has previously mentioned, the investors thought they were investing in a number of companies in Cyprus and Great Britain. The companies were to operate in property, shipping, hand sanitizer – and export water to Asia. FROM FOLLDAL TO THE WORLD: The majority of politicians were positive about sending Folldal water to Shanghai, but some were puzzled by the lack of information. During the meeting, Skoug said that the investors owned shares in the AquaOne concept, which exported water from Folldal to Shanghai. He said, among other things, that: – We and our partner have full control over all the water sources in the whole of Folldal. – There are leases that run for 160 years. And Folldal has approximately 5.2 billion liters of water. – Today, seven containers a month are transported to China. None of this is true, according to Folldal municipality. Folldal mayor Langtjernet gets excited when she sees what Skoug has presented to the investors in Stavanger. – There is not a single agreement on the table, emphasizes the mayor. AQUA1: A small batch of water cartons from Grimsbu in Folldal was produced a few years ago. Photo: Geir Olav Slåen In an interview with news, Geir Skoug denies that he marketed the project to the investors in Stavanger. He claims that the money had already been collected. Ending collaboration with Norwegian Spring Water Earlier this year, Geir Skoug went to Folldal to meet the municipal management. Over a cup of coffee at the municipal building, Skoug is said to have repeated the message that the funding certificate was just around the corner. But the documentation has never appeared. On 12 October, news published the case of The Gate Index, a network of companies that Geir Skoug manages from Cyprus. Then the alarm also went off in Folldal municipality. – I jumped in the chair. This was the man we had met, says Skjervold. The man who had promised them money several times was accused in news’s ​​case of defrauding investors in Rogaland of millions. Later, news documented for Skjervold that the same man marketed Folldal water to these investors. – All in all, we feel that we have been tricked, says Skjervold. The agreement between Folldal municipality and Norwegian Spring Water The agreement between Folldal municipality and Norwegian Spring Water was never signed. Folldal municipality was to rent out the Krokhaug waterworks for NOK 100,000 per year, as well as eight øre per liter of water that was tapped. The municipality announced this during a municipal council meeting in 2023. The duration of the agreement was 25 years. The municipality had the option to terminate the agreement with five years’ notice. Although the politicians have not yet taken a position on the matter, the business manager is confident that the collaboration between Folldal municipality and Norwegian Spring Water will now be ended. – Now we are going to work actively in other directions, says Skjervold. Mayor Kristin Langtjernet thinks the case is sad, but is glad that the municipality did not spend money on anything other than legal assistance in the collaboration. Claims the money is coming “I have NEVER called Folldal to ensure funding. They mistake me for someone else…”, writes Geir Skoug in an e-mail to news. Later, Skoug confirms that he went to Folldal, and that he had talks with the mayor and the business manager in the municipality. Skoug is clear that the municipality has an agreement with his partners in Norwegian Spring Water, and that this company has an agreement with his AquaOne concept. – There are investments of a total of 300 million over a period of three to five years. And the first 30 million are ready for payment, says Skoug. – Who pays for it? Where does this money come from? – They come from me. – Where does the money come from, then? Is that your money? – Yes, you can say that. – Are you sitting on 30 million? Euros or kroner? – As you have probably realised, we have business, or whatever you want to call it, everywhere other than Norway. He claims that in 2022 he collected money in Stockholm, and that this will be invested in Folldal. And he denies that investors in Rogaland have invested directly in the water project. – Why are you talking about Folldalsvannet at the meeting in Stavanger at all? – Because we have agreements to extract such and such a quantity of water, which is to be marketed and distributed via AquaOne. MORE ATTEMPTS: Exporting spring water abroad has long been a dream for Folldal municipality. Karl Kristian Havik has tried over several years. Facsimile: Easterner Managing Director Karl Kristian Havik of Norwegian Spring Water will not answer questions about Geir Skoug and AquaOne. “Customers and financing plans are confidential,” writes Havik in a text message to news. Chairman Sverre Gjefsen of Norwegian Spring Water has not responded to news’s ​​inquiries. Criticizes Folldal municipality Brit Kværness in Folldalslista was one of the few politicians in the municipal council who voted no to collaboration with Norwegian Spring Water in 2022. She thought the factual basis was too poor. – I don’t know a thing about this, even though I have read the case papers. We know too little, Kværness said according to the local newspaper Arbeids Rett (external link) during the municipal council meeting. KNEW TOO LITTLE: Britt Kværnes (Folldalslista) is critical of Folldal municipality’s handling of the matter. Photo: Magnus Ekeli Mullis Kværness is no less certain today that both the municipality should have investigated Norwegian Spring Water and their plans more thoroughly. – It is devastating for our reputation if Folldal municipality is used in a marketing campaign that is untrue, says Kværness. Geir Skoug reacts to Kværness believing he is lying. – Gentle Jesus. She will receive a letter from our lawyer within a week, says Skoug to news. Export of water from the Folldal Company NCA Norway tells Ringsaker Blad and Østrlendingen that the company will supply 5 million liters of water to India with the Aqua1 concept. Karl Kristian Havik is one of two owners in the company. Norsk Kildevann AS, owned by NCA Norway, will build a bottling plant for spring water at a cost of NOK 80 million. The aim is still to sell fresh mountain water to India. Norsk Kildevann AS has not submitted accounts since 2007 and is being compulsorily dissolved. The company bails out at the last minute, but struggles with financing. Another company, Nor Aqua Folldal AS, wants to build a bottling plant for NOK 25 million. The following year, the Folldal politicians decide not to enter into a lasting collaboration with the company. Norsk Kildevann AS and Karl Kristian Havik say that a large foreign player will become a partner for Norsk Kildevann AS, but will not reveal the name of the player. He says that the company needs 12 employees during the year. Little has happened. Norsk Kildevann AS thought an American fund would finance the water project with NOK 250 million. Managing director Havik tells the local newspaper Østlendingen that the fund turned out to be part of an extensive fraud network in the USA. In the Court of Appeal, Karl Kristian Havik and his company Norwegische Kildevann Inc win the right to the shares in Norsk Kildevann AS, which has the right to a water source in Folldal . Afterwards, Havik tells the local newspaper Østlendingen that the water project can provide up to 30 new jobs for the municipality. Again, Havik mentions export to India as a possibility. The municipal board decides that they want to enter into an agreement on the rental of Krokhaugen Vannverk. The water source is put out to tender. The competition is won by the US-registered Norwegian Kildevann Holding Corporation, owned by Karl Kristian Havik. A clear majority in Folldal municipal council (14 to 3) is in favor of leasing Krokhaug Vannverk to the Havik company Norwegian Kildevann Holding Corp, through the newly registered company Norwegian Spring Water AS. At a conference in Stavanger, The Gate Index CEO Geir Skoug says that the investors own shares in the AquaOne concept. – We and our partners have full control over all the water sources in Folldal, says Skoug. Little has happened. The municipal board is informed that the company has not succeeded in getting the financing in place. The municipality signals that they will not sign a lease until the financing is documented. Show more Published 11/11/2024, at 08.55



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