OSLO/STOCKHOLM — Norwegian police are investigating two high-profile diplomats in a corruption probe announced on Monday (Feb 9), part of a widening scandal in the Nordic country and across Europe over prominent figures' ties to late sex offender Jeffrey Epstein.
Mona Juul, who resigned as ambassador to Jordan and Iraq on Sunday, is suspected of gross corruption and her husband, former government minister Terje Roed-Larsen, is suspected of complicity in gross corruption, police said.
"A new investigation has been opened in connection with the Epstein files... We are facing a comprehensive and, by all accounts, long-term investigation," Norway's financial crimes squad, Oekokrim, said in a statement.
Juul and Roed-Larsen are cooperating with the investigation and see no merit in the accusations against them, their lawyers said.
Roed-Larsen's ties to Epstein initially came to light in the Norwegian press in 2019. He has apologised several times for the relationship and in 2020 stepped down as CEO of the New York-based International Peace Institute, a think tank.
The couple's connections to the American financier, who killed himself in a New York jail in 2019, returned to the spotlight after the US Justice Department released millions of pages of files related to his case last month.
Among other references to Juul and Roed-Larsen, the files showed they made plans to visit Epstein's private island with their two children in 2011, though it was unclear if the visit took place.
Roed-Larsen, who appeared to have a deeper friendship with Epstein than his wife, thanked Epstein for "everything you have done" in a text message in 2017 and called him his "best friend" and a "thoroughly good human being."
Epstein also helped the couple negotiate an Oslo apartment purchase in 2018 and in an email exchange told the seller "it will become unpleasant" if he backed out of the deal over a price he considered too low.
In a will signed two days before his death, Epstein stated that the couple's two children would stand to inherit US$5 million (S$6.3 million) each.
Roed-Larsen's lawyer, John Christian Elden, said in a statement the police investigation centred on the 2018 real-estate transaction and "a possible trip in 2011".
"Roed-Larsen is confident that once all the factual circumstances have been thoroughly reviewed, the investigation will clarify that there is no basis for criminal liability, and the case will be dismissed," Elden said.
Juul has represented Norway as ambassador to Israel and UK and at the United Nations. Referring to her, police said Oekokrim would investigate among other things whether "benefits were received in connection with her position."
Juul viewed it positively that the allegations against her will now be subject to a thorough investigation, allowing the circumstances to be clarified, her lawyer Thomas Skjelbred said.
"My client does not recognise the accusations made against her," Skjelbred said in a statement.
The couple were part of a small group of diplomats facilitating the 1993-1995 Oslo Accords, seen at the time as a breakthrough in the conflict between Israel and the Palestinians, although peace in the region remains elusive.
Roed-Larsen, 78, was briefly a cabinet minister in 1996 under then-Prime Minister Thorbjoern Jagland.
Several other prominent Norwegians also had links to Epstein, including Crown Princess Mette-Marit, who has apologised.
In Britain, Prime Minister Keir Starmer is pushing back against calls for his resignation over his appointment of Peter Mandelson, who had previously known ties to Epstein, as ambassador to Washington.
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