Mona Juul and her husband Terje Rød-Larsen were once Norway’s dynamic duo as the top diplomats who almost struck a lasting peace pact in the Middle East. Now they’ve both been formally charged with corruption, just a day after Juul had to give up her latest ambassador’s post in disgrace.
The economic crime unit of Norway’s state police, Økokrim, confirmed a report in newspaper Dagens Næringsliv (DN) that it has charged Juul with serious corruption and her husband Rød-Larsen as an accessory to serious corruption. Økokrim has also opened a formal investigation and ransacked the couple’s home in Oslo on Monday.
Their home, a large condominium in an historic building in Oslo’s fashionable Frogner district, has earlier been a subject of alleged corruption itself. Email communication between Rød-Larsen and the late financier and convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein reveal that it was bought in 2018 with Epstein’s help from a financially troubled Norwegian shipowner at the time, Morits Skaugen, at half its market value.
Økokrim chief Pål Lønseth told reporters on Monday that the criminal investigation has been launched “to find out whether any punishable crimes have been committed.” Lønseth said his staff now faced an extensive and probably lengthy investigation.
Lønseth said Juul was charged with serious corruption on suspicion that her husband and family received various favours because of her high positions within Norway’s foreign ministry. She served both as Norway’s ambassador to the UK and the United Nations during much of the time when Rød-Larsen had extensive personal and professional contact with Epstein. The couple and their two teenagers at the time also spent lavish holidays with Epstein and both of their now-adult offspring were written into Epstein’s will.
Lønseth declined to go into detail on concrete charges, but stressed that they are directed at those who accept favours tied to the positions they hold. Those “advantages” are at the heart of the state investigation.
Juul’s defense attorney, Thomas Skjelbred of the Oslo-based Elden law firm, stressed that the charges against her are serious. “At the same time,” he stated in a press release Monday, “she views it as positive that there will be a thorough investigation,” so that the facts will be clarified and, in her view, she’ll be cleared.
Rød-Larsen’s defense attorney, John Christian Elden, told state broadcaster NRK that his client is “surprised” by the charges against him. Elden claimed his client has “cooperated fully,” even though Elden recently told reporters that the reason Rød-Larsen hasn’t answered any questions from the media since the Epstein files were released just over a week ago is because he’s ill following strokes last year and has reduced cognitive abilities.
Elden seemed to try to downplay the charges, suggesting they were mostly needed to ransack the couple’s home and that of an unidentified third person. He added that Økokrim is investigating two situations: One involving a real estate transaction in 2018 and some travel years ago. “Rød-Larsen is certain the case will be dropped,” said Elden.
Økokrim is also investigating Norway’s former foreign- and prime minister Thorbjørn Jagland, a close earlier colleague of Juul and Rød-Larsen, over his ties to Epstein and the favours he received from Epstein when Jagland was both leader of the Norwegian Nobel Committee and the Council of Europe. Another former foreign minister, Børge Brende, is under investigation as well at the World Economic Forum for his own dealings with Epstein.
Juul was already under questioning by the foreign ministry itself, which reported on Monday that it will aid Økokrim with its new investigation. The ministry itself also faces a probe by the Norwegian Parliament’s disciplinary committee and an independent probe. Norwegian Foreign Minister Espen Barth Eide has described Juul’s decision to resign her current post as Norway’s envoy to Jordan and Iraq as “correct and necessary.” He said her resignation came after her “conversations with the Foreign Ministry” last week.
Those “conversations” arose after the US Department of Justice released its latest large batch of documents just over a week ago that were tied to the US’ criminal case against Jeffrey Epstein, the late American financier and convicted sex offender who died in prison in 2019. The documents revealed close and lengthy relations between Epstein and, among others, Rød-Larsen and Juul, including dinners, other meetings, holidays together and personal financial arrangements, even Epstein’s involvement in the couple’s purchase of their large and luxurious home in Oslo for half its market value.
“Juul’s contact with the convicted Epstein has shown a serious lack of good judgment,” Eide said, which “makes it difficult to restore the confidence needed” for an ambassadorial post. Juul was stripped of her duties last week pending discussions with the ministry and examination of her contact with Epstein over the years.
Juul, now age 66, remains a ministry employee but Eide said that “when she now ends her service in Jordan earlier than planned, it means that she won’t come back as ambassador.” The embassy in Amman, which also serves as Norway’s embassy for Iraq, will be led by an acting ambassador until a new one is appointed.
“That’s to ensure that work will resume as normal, also in a demanding situation,” Eide said.
The ministry noted that the Epstein files have since uncovered “many details” involving Mona Juul. Its investigation into her “knowledge of and contact with Epstein” will continue, not least to evaluate whether her ties to Epstein are in line with state regulations and duties that apply to all state employees and government officials both within and outside their public service.
“It’s important to understand the extent of the contact she, as an employee of the Foreign Ministry, has had with Epstein,” Eide said. “Juul will continue conversations with the ministry, so that the case can be clarified and that what she has said earlier is in line with what’s come forward now. This is important for both sides, not lease since we must clear up whether the relationship (between Juul and Epstein) has had any effect on her job as a diplomat.”
All that will, according to the ministry, “lay the foundation for the ministry’s evaluation of further consequences for Mona Juul’s employment.”
Eide claimed he “looked forward” to answering questions from the Norwegian Parliament’s disciplinary committee, which is already launching its own investigation in what’s now called “the Epstein case.” Eide said that the “process … will require openness.” The ministry’s investigation comes in addition to criminal investigations launched by the Norwegian state police’s economic crime unit Økokrim into the relations between Epstein and former Norwegian prime- and foreign minister Thorbjørn Jagland, who also has showed up frequently in the Epstein files.
Foreign Minister Eide also announced that given all the communication that’s come to light between Epstein and Juul’s husband Rød-Larsen, his ministry has launched another examination of its funding for and contact with the International Peace Institute (IPI), after an earlier audit sparked criticism. Rød-Larsen led IPI for 15 years until he had to resign under pressure following newspaper Dagens Næringsliv (DN)‘s early reports that he had borrowed USD 130,000 from Epstein. Documents revealing their communication over many years now indicate their financial ties were far more extensive.
Eide called that “extremely worrisome,” adding that “there is no doubt that Rød-Larsen has shown poor judgment in this case.” Rød-Larsen himself hasn’t answered questions or made any statements since the latest batch of Epstein files was released. His defense attorney claimed last week that Rød-Larsen had suffered strokes and was still too ill to respond to the growing allegations against him, even though his attorney also says Rød-Larsen was cooperating with authorities.
Norway’s state auditor’s earlier examinations of the foreign ministry’s funding for IPI resulted in funding cuts. The ministry claimed on Sunday that it has since carried out a “major clean-up” of its funds management.
NewsinEnglish.no/Nina Berglund
