On Friday, Sofie Nystrøm resigned as director of the National Insurance Agency (NSM) after the agency took out a private loan of NOK 200 million in connection with a lease agreement. The Ministry of Justice has sent a case to the Storting where they are asking for extra permission to repay the loan. On Monday, Høgre gives the green light to give this money. – There is no reason why the community should pay on a loan with high interest rates, which should not have been taken out in the first place. We will support giving the money, so we get rid of this loan, says fiscal policy spokesperson Tina Bru. Tina Bru and Høgre are helping to secure a majority for an extra license for NSM. Photo: William Jobling / news SV is also willing to pay the money needed to cancel the agreement. – We think it makes sense to clean up this financial mess. We have to row the boat to shore before we find out why he is taking in water. Here it is important that we clean up before we go deep into the matter, says fiscal policy spokesperson Andreas Sjalg Unneland. Andreas Sjalg Unneland (SV) wants to cancel the NSM loan in order to have time to investigate the case. Photo: Rune Hansen With Høgre and SV on the team, there is a majority to pay off the loan NSM’s loan of 200 million. It was VG who first mentioned semja in the Storting. Critical of progress But law professor Mads Andenæs at the University of Oslo (UiO) is critical of what he perceives as haste from the government. – This loan has no parallel in Norwegian history, and the Storting must not rush. Here we must first get clear answers, he says to news. He thinks it is unfortunate if this case is brought to a quick conclusion without the legal and factual sides being clarified. Among other things, it has not been clarified whether the loan agreement is legally binding. Law professor Mads Andenæs, University of Oslo. Photo: Benjamin Vorland Andersrød / news Among those who ask themselves this question is law professor Geir Woxholth at UiO. – Without knowing enough about the case to be able to answer for sure, I am in no way immediately convinced that this loan agreement is binding for the state, he wrote on Facebook on Friday. If the loan agreement is not legally binding, this means that the state is not necessarily obliged to pay out the loan. Proposes freezing the loan The reason why the loan is considered illegal is that it has not been processed by the Storting, which is the one who approves the money that goes to public agencies. This is a breach of both the budget and financial rules at the Storting, and contrary to the Constitution. Andenæs believes it would have been better if the loan had been frozen until the situation was more clarified. – The form this agreement may have taken suggests a breach and circumvention of a number of rules. This can have consequences for whether it is possible to claim the money back. It must be carefully paid out and clarified before anything is paid to this company. Law professor Johan Giertsen, University of Bergen. Photo: news Brennpunkt Law professor Johan Giertsen at the University of Bergen agrees that freezing the loan could have been an interim solution. – The state and the lender have freedom of agreement. So they could have agreed to freeze the agreement until they had all the facts on the table, and then decide how the settlement should be, he says. To be investigated It is Minister of Justice Emilie Enger Mehl (Sp) who is the minister responsible for this case. She already announced on Friday that she wanted an external investigation into what happened. The investigation will, among other things, look at the contractual aspects of the agreement. In addition, she will assess the work done by the Ministry of Justice and Emergency Preparedness and several other ministries. The Storting has also asked Mehl to come up with a briefing, preferably before Christmas. But it is too early to say anything about the confidence the opposition has in the minister, says parliamentary representative Hans Andreas Limi (Frp) in the finance committee. – The Minister of Justice is responsible. That is why we have asked for more information. The Storting must get an overview of what has happened. Nor does Bru want to say anything about the political consequences this case may have. – There is no doubt that Mehl is responsible. But it is too early to say anything about consequences. We must have an external investigation before we can conclude on such a question. Will investigate back in time It is not yet known who will sit on the investigation committee. But those who will investigate must also go back ten years in time. This means that the previous government will also be followed in the seams. – I cannot rule out that this could have happened in our time, but it should not happen. The government says they will investigate ten years back in time. I look forward to this investigation, and to getting to the bottom of how this could happen, says Bru. But the fact that the investigation will cover several ministries and governments over a longer period of time means that it is the Storting that should set up an investigation committee, and not the government, says Giertsen. – The Minister of Justice should not set up a committee that can criticize her own ministry. There are several ministries involved, we are talking about large sums and perhaps a long period of time. This will take time, he says.
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Høgre and SV secure majority to pay off NSM loan – news Norway – Overview of news from different parts of the country
