Norwegian artist Odd Nerdrum has, for the third time, lost a court case in which he’s tried to defend himself against tax evasion charges. This time, the court in Oslo rejected Nerdrum’s demand that it overturn the state authorities’ tax claim.
Nerdrum, age 68, was earlier sentenced to prison for tax evasion by both the city court and the appeals court. He has since appealed that case to the Supreme Court.
Nerdrum also filed suit himself against the regional tax authority Skatt Øst, over his failure to report around USD 900,000 in unclaimed income that he’d placed in a safety deposit box in Austria. The artist has testified that the money was set aside to cover potential compensation claims from buyers of paintings on which Nerdrum had used the wrong paint.
The court (Oslo tingrett), though, ruled that the money was neither the “loan, security, depot or committed funds” that Nerdrum claimed it was, and instead should have been disclosed and taxed.
Now Nerdrum faces paying the tax, plus court costs, or appealing. “I don’t know whether Nerdrum can manage one more court case,” his attorney, Pål Berg, told newspaper Dagens Næringsliv (DN).
newsinenglish.no staff
