Police will dismiss corruption charges against the company, Statoil-top

StatoilStatoil.Photo: Norway Today Media

Prosecutors must now decide whether to shelve the case against Statoil-top, which was charged with gross corruption last December.
‘It is true that we have submitted the case with proposals for its dismissal’, said the police lawyer, Tor Arvid Bruskeland, of the
economic crime section of the South Western Police District, to Stavanger Aftenblad newspaper.

Statoil’s leader was arrested, and charged, in early December last year because police believed he had exploited his position to
obtain improper benefits from a supplier company.

The man’s lawyer, Tor Inge Borgersen, told Stavanger Aftenblad that it’s rare for the public prosecutor not to follow the recommendations
of the police when there is proposal for dismissal of a criminal case. He is therefore optimistic on his client’s behalf.

The Statoil employee has been temporarily suspended from his position with the group since the matter surfaced. It was Statoil itself that was
responsible for orienting Stavanger police about a possible corruption case last autumn.

‘We wished to clarify whether there had been violations of the internal regulations of Statoil, whatever the outcome of the case might be’, said
spokesman, Morten Eek at Statoil.

 

Source: NTB scanpix / Norway Today