An appeals court has upheld a prison sentence for a former Member of Parliament for the Progress Party, who was convicted of submitting false travel expense reports and pocketing more than NOK 400,000 in the process.
Mazyar Keshvari admitted to fraud for wrongly claiming parliamentary funds for trips he never took, and has since repaid the money. He was sentenced to seven months in jail, but prosecutors didn’t think that was enough punishment, given Keshvari’s breach of public trust and severity of the fraud.
The appeals court, however, found it sufficient and in line with court precedent regarding such crimes. Keshvari’s defense attorney, John Christian Elden, told newspaper Dagens Næringsliv (DN) that he was glad the prosecutor’s appeal was rejected.
“Keshvari should not be treated negatively by being given an especially long jail term,” Elden wrote in a message to DN. He noted that the appeals court had also slightly reduced the total amount of the fraud carried out by Keshvari.
“Now we hope the case is closed,” Elden stated.
newsinenglish.no staff
