Linda Dagestad Øygarden (H) may become Arendal’s next mayor. But in the wake of the election campaign there is a case that many in the southern village still have not received an answer to: A bankruptcy that ended with a police report, and a former business partner who says she is left with a large debt. What was the money in the small cafe that was supposed to give drug addicts job training actually used for? And what did Arendal Høyre know about the police case against the mayoral candidate? At the same time as she worked in the cafe, Linda Dagestad Øygarden (tv) also sat on the city council for the Conservative Party. Here with the founder and general manager of the Wood & Food cafe, Inger Marie Johnsen. Photo: WOOD AND FOOD’S FACEBOOK PAGE Should take care of the finances The inflamed case goes back to 2019. Then the Conservative politician was a regular guest in the cafe, according to founder Inger Marie Johnsen. She started Wood & Food, a concept aimed at getting more drug addicts into work. In the cafe, they also sold self-produced linen goods. The politician showed an early interest in the concept, and is said to have asked about a collaboration, according to the founder. – She was to take care of the finances, while I was to take care of the addictions. Øygarden replies to news that the case has been well known and highlighted in the media several times in the past. – The case is closed and dismissed. I have my point. This was a sad and boring case for everyone involved, she writes in an email. The bankruptcy and the notification were previously discussed by Agderposten. But it has not been known until now that the police never investigated the case because they did not have the capacity. news has asked the mayoral candidate a number of questions related to the bankruptcy and the accounts. She has not responded to these. During the pandemic, the politician had several live broadcasts where interior goods from Wood & Food were sold. Photo: SCREEN DUMP FROM WOOD AND FOOD’S FACEBOOK PAGE Refurbished for cafe money When the politician came in as co-owner and working chairman of the board, the two partners decided to expand the cafe, says the founder. They wanted to give more drug addicts a job offer. Together with her husband, the politician bought a commercial building just outside the center of Arendal. The cafe moved into the first floor, and the couple received NOK 60,000 a month in rental income, according to the tenancy agreement that news has seen. In the old premises, Wood & Food paid a rent of NOK 6,000, according to the founder. The Wood & Food cafe paid NOK 60,000 in monthly rent for the premises on the first floor here. Today, Fontenehuset pays NOK 105,000 a month to rent the entire building. Photo: John-André Samuelsen / news The building the cafe moved into was dilapidated. There was a great need for renovation. Over one million kroner was spent in the course of half a year on refurbishing, but the bill was sent to the tenant Wood & Food, according to a report after the bankruptcy. This later became part of the report to the police, as a possible breach of the Companies Act. Among other things, the cafe paid over NOK 200,000 for exterior paint and new windows, according to documents news has seen. This despite the fact that the tenancy agreement states that the landlord must pay for external maintenance. The large investments should also have been approved by the board, but there is no documentation that this has happened, according to the trustees’ report on the bankruptcy. This is what the newly renovated premises of Wood & Food looked like, in the building owned by the mayoral candidate and the man’s company. Photo: WOOD AND FOOD’S FACEBOOK PAGE Paid for itself Half a year after the newly refurbished café premises were completed, Wood & Food went bankrupt. During the last five days before the bankruptcy on 23 December 2020, a total of NOK 140,000 was transferred from the cafe’s account to Øygarden and the man’s companies. 80,000 of these were transferred the day before the bankruptcy: 18 December 2020: NOK 30,000 is transferred from Wood & Food to Soria Moria Holding, a company owned by the mayoral candidate and her husband. In the accounts, this sum is described as repayment of a “short-term loan” which was supposed to cover salaries for employees. 21 December 2020: NOK 30,000 is transferred from Wood & Food to Soria Moria Holding. In the accounts, this sum is also described as repayment of a loan. 22 December 2020: NOK 20,000 is transferred from Wood & Food’s account to Soria Moria Holding. This sum is also described as repayment of a loan. 22 December 2020: NOK 60,000 is transferred from Wood & Food’s account to Blødekjær 6 AS, the property company owned by the mayoral candidate and her husband. In the accounts, this sum is described as rent. NOK 20,000 was also transferred from Wood & Food to the accounting firm, where a relative of the mayoral candidate’s husband works, according to the housing board’s report. news has been in contact with the accounting firm Ecit Normann & Øygarden AS, and the husband’s relative, who refer to confidentiality. Lawyer Ole J. Devold was the trustee for Wood & Food. He found several possible criminal offenses when he went through the accounts, and reported the matter to the police. Photo: Knut Knudsen Eigeland / news Was not investigated by the police When a company is close to bankruptcy, it can be illegal to pay itself before other creditors have received their money, according to the Covering Act. The above transactions were therefore also part of the report to the police from the trustee, lawyer Ole Devold. He thought the conditions could be punishable. Devold does not wish to comment on the case, and refers to the report he prepared in connection with the bankruptcy: “(…) several possible breaches of the Companies Act, (…). On this basis, the final report, as well as the drill inspector’s report, will be forwarded to the Agder police district for possible further prosecution.” In the report to the Agder police district, Devold writes a “request for investigation for possible criminal offences”. news can now say that the case was never investigated by the police. As a result of “lack of processing capacity”, the case was dropped two weeks later. This often happens in such cases, according to the Bankruptcy Council, which has repeatedly spoken out critical of the police’s investigations. – It was an assessment of all cases we have in Agder, and what we have the capacity to investigate. We assess this based on the degree of seriousness and the priorities we have from the higher prosecution authority. We did not have the capacity to investigate this, says prosecutor Terje Kaddeberg Skaar. The case was dropped two weeks after the police received the report, according to prosecutor Terje Kaddeberg Skaar. Photo: Kjetil Samuelsen / news Feeling duped The founder Inger Marie Johnsen claims she took out half a million kroner in loans. And that after the bankruptcy she lost almost everything. Today, the cafe founder says that she feels deceived by the mayoral candidate. – I have probably been very naive and see that afterwards I should have had a much more critical approach to the financial aspects of the operation. But at the same time Linda was very persuasive. Founder Inger Marie Johnsen claims she is left with debts after the Wood & Food bankruptcy. Photo: John-André Samuelsen / news Mayoral candidate Øygarden himself claims to have lost one million kroner in the bankruptcy. – Inger Marie says she finds it unfair that she is left with debt, and you with a newly renovated building. What is your comment on that? – As you can see from my answer, we have also lost significantly from this bankruptcy, replies the mayoral candidate by e-mail. news has been in contact with Øygarden’s husband, who does not want to comment on the case beyond the answers his wife has given. The mayoral candidate herself claims that she and her husband lost large sums of money in the bankruptcy. Photo: John-André Samuelsen / news Asking for transparency The café founder has made several attempts to get answers to how the money for Wood & Food has been used, without success. When the company went bankrupt, she lost her right to access the accounts. When the entrepreneur asked the accounting firm for access, she was refused due to confidentiality. She has also asked the mayoral candidate, who was chairman of the board and still has access to the accounts, to get the documentation out. news has seen correspondence in which Øygarden writes that she no longer has access to the accounts. The founder calls for full transparency in the case of the bankruptcy. Photo: John-André Samuelsen / NRKG The founder calls for full transparency in the case of the bankruptcy. Photo: John-André Samuelsen / news news has also asked the mayoral candidate to see specific sub-documents and receipts. She has not answered the question. – I would like to believe that it will be in the mayoral candidate’s interest that there is full transparency and clarification around these questions, says the entrepreneur. She also reacts to the fact that the case was dropped by the police. – Both the audit report and the trustees have said that it is something that should be looked into more closely. And then I am very horrified that it was dropped. This summer, the mayoral candidate ran an election campaign, including together with party leader Erna Solberg and Agder’s county mayoral candidate for the Conservative Party, Arne Thomassen. Photo: From Høyre’s Facebook page – An attempt to smear When the politician launched herself as a mayoral candidate for Arendal Høyre last year, she told Agderposten that she considered herself done with the Wood & Food case. – This is a matter I have been open about all along, with the nomination committee, writes Øygarden in an e-mail to news. Arendal Høyre confirms in an email to news that they are of the same opinion. – We in the board have reviewed the matter again now and stand fully behind Linda, writes board chairman Per Jakob Haakestad. news has also asked Arendal Høyre if the party knew if the case was never investigated, but dropped due to a lack of capacity. The party has not responded to that. The mayoral candidate is also involved in a construction case after having built illegally in the beach zone, which news wrote about earlier this year. Arendal Høyre has also not answered what kind of control they do of people who are supposed to hold positions of trust. The chairman believes the article appears to be “unfounded and inappropriate”. – Here it appears that someone is bringing up old cases, in an attempt to smear Linda. Chairman of Arendal Høyre, Per Jakob Haakestad. Photo: RIGHT New renovation Today it is the foundation Fontenehuset that rents the building from Øygarden and the man. Five days before Wood & Food was declared bankrupt, Conservative politician Geir Fredrik Sissener suggested to the city council that a Fontenehus should be established in Arendal, according to a case protocol. The foundation is mainly run on state and municipal support, and is a working community for people with various challenges. Fontenehuset moved in around half a year after the bankruptcy. They then spent close to NOK 350,000 upgrading the building. It was less than a year after Wood & Food had spent more than one million on the same. During the bankruptcy, parts of the café’s inventory were sold. – It was absolutely crazy when we took over. No stove, freezer or similar. The money we have spent on furnishings has mostly gone towards upgrading the kitchen to restaurant standard, says general manager Svein Harald Monsen. He is an Ap politician, and sits on the city council together with Øygarden. Both declared themselves incompetent when the case was up for consideration, according to the case papers. Arendal city council later agreed to support Fontenehuset with several million kroner over the next five years. Ap politician Svein Harald Monsen is the general manager of Fontenehuset Arendal. Photo: Christina Cantero / news Most expensive rent in the country In addition to the money they have spent on refurbishing, Fontenehuset pays a rent of NOK 105,000 a month to the property company that the mayoral candidate runs together with her husband. news can reveal that of all the 22 departments in Norway, Fontenehuset in Arendal pays the most expensive rent in the whole country, divided by the number of members. Only Oslo and Fredrikstad have larger premises. In the election campaign, the mayoral candidate visited Fontenehuset, and advertised the work they do. Here with party colleague Amalie Kollstrand in Arendal Høyre. Photo: SCREEN DUMP FROM THE FACEBOOK PAGE OF LINDA DAGESTAD ØYGARDEN Fontenehuset in Arendal rents 775 sqm to its 90 members. In Oslo, Fontenehuset has 1,000 square meters for 500 members. – The place is very well suited. We are close to the city centre, free parking and bus stops close to the house. The premises are functional and simply ideal for our operations, says Monsen. Arendal municipality is paying just over NOK 1.2 million this year to operate the Fontenehuset, according to Monsen. It is quite precisely the sum that candidate for mayor Øygarden and the man receive in rent. About the rent, she writes in an e-mail to news:- This is the market rent for the rent and adaptations of the entire house (775 square meters) with 15 parking spaces entered into voluntarily between two parties. Hello! Did you think of anything when you read this case? Feel free to send me an email! Previously, I have written, among other things, about illegal construction in the beach zone in Tjøme municipality.
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Police case against Conservative politician was never investigated – news Sørlandet – Local news, TV and radio
