A former high-spending stock broker in Norway, convicted of tax evasion and fraud and sentenced to five years in prison, was formally pardoned by King Harald V earlier this month. The reason, according to newspaper Dagens Næringsliv (DN): police and prosecutors failed to call him in to serve his jail term until five-and-a-half years after his sentence was handed down.
A convict can’t be blamed for such a delayed summons to prison, a prosecutor confirmed to DN this week, adding that the failure to call in the convicted broker “can’t be attributed to anything other than human error and an error in the systems of the police and påtalemyndigheten (the prosecuting authority).”
DN reported that the now-54-year-old broker, a former derivatives chief for SEB Enskilda, was found guilty of failing to declare more than NOK 40 million in income. His alleged tax evasion was also tied to expensive holidays, the lease of a luxurious yacht and purchases of expensive suits and diamond jewelry. An appeals court slightly reduced his initial jail sentence to five years, two of them suspended, and he also lost the right to work as a stock- or derivative broker or have any leading positions tied to such work.
That ban reportedly has been dropped as part of his pardon. He remains listed in public records, however, as still owing NOK 59.9 million in taxes.
newsinenglish.no staff
