– A breach of rules has been uncovered in NSM. And the Minister of Justice has tackled that forcefully, says Trygve Slagsvold Vedum to news. – She has done what she can to obtain all the information and set up a very competent committee led by Svein Gjedrem to go through the whole case, he continues. – But the criticism also comes at the Minister of Justice himself. It is alleged that she does not have good enough control with underlying agencies? – The Minister of Justice has done a very thorough job. She took action as soon as this was discovered and set up a committee to clean it up and ensure that this type of rule violation does not happen again, Vedum repeats. This is how Vedum responds Justice Minister Emilie Enger Mehl (Sp) has contracted corona and was not present in the Storting to answer for herself on Wednesday. But party leader and finance minister Trygve Slagsvold Vedum showed up, among other things to follow the processing of the extra grant of NOK 200 million that the government has requested. Former finance minister and central bank governor Svein Gjedrem has been given the job of investigating the NSM case. Photo: Nyhetsspiller The money goes to pay off the loan that the National Security Authority (NSM) took out from the real estate company Norwegian Property. The Minister of Justice, who is responsible for NSM, has himself established that the loan is illegal and contrary to the principles of the Constitution regarding the Storting as granting authority. – Has the Minister of Justice done his job well enough? – The Minister has been very clear here. She has done a clean-up job, taken a very clear approach, and also wanted to have an external review with highly skilled professionals, says Vedum – You lead the Ministry of Finance, but you are also party leader in the Center Party. Do you have confidence in Emilie Mehl as Minister of Justice? – She has done a very thorough job, dealt with this directly and clearly. And it was also completely right for the Minister of Justice to take the initiative for an external review, precisely because one must have order and propriety. – When you hear the strong reactions from the opposition in this case, how serious is it for the Minister of Justice? – When she discovers something, the minister must deal with it, clean it up, ensure that things are in accordance with the regulations in place. That is precisely what Minister of Justice Mehl is doing. Could it have been uncovered? Earlier today, news referred to the letter that went from the Ministry of Finance to the Ministry of Justice on 29 November. It clearly states that NSM’s illegal agreement could probably have been uncovered earlier. – The Ministry of Justice asked for our assessment after they had uncovered a breach of the rules. And we agreed with the assessment that the Ministry of Justice had made, gave a written feedback on it, and confirmed that we viewed the matter in the same way. – What kind of assessment did you agree on? – That there was a breach of the financial regulations, and that this was not in accordance with the powers granted by the Storting. So we have the same basic assessments as the Ministry of Justice, and which the Minister of Justice has informed about through press conferences and other types of press meetings. – But in this letter, it says that the Ministry of Justice could have uncovered this earlier if the follow-up of the underlying agencies had been closer? – And it is therefore in accordance with what the Minister of Justice has said all along, because here there has been a breach in the NSM. Then you have to go through the case complex in its entirety, says Vedum and refers to the investigation committee that was set up under the leadership of former central bank governor Svein Gjedrem, Vedum replies.
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She has taken up the matter – news Norway – Overview of news from various parts of the country
