Several parties want the parliamentary control and communications committee to be looking into a payment of 3.1 billion Statoil made in Angola in 2012.
In 2012, Statoil transferred NOK 3.1 billion to the Government of Angola as signature bonuses, according to its annual report.
Now, do several parties want to have the matter up in the Standing Committee on Scrutiny and Constitutional Affairs, to find out where the billions have taken the road and about Statoil may be involved in corruption in Angola, writes the newspaper Klassekampen.
It’s Rasmus Hansson, the Green Party (MDG) who has taken the initiative to bring up the issue in the committee, and he is supported by the Labour Party and the Socialist Left Party. The Oil Minister was asked about the case from the Liberal leader Trine Skei Grande in November last year, but Hansson wants a more thorough answer this time.
Information manager Knut Rostad in Statoil says that the signature bonus is paid to the state-owned Angolan oil company Sonangol, but would not provide more details.- The signature bonus is part of the tax system in some countries, like the United States and Angola. Statoil was awarded licenses in the Kwanza basin in 2011, and the agreement meant that Statoil should pay 3.1 billion in signature bonuses. The money is paid to Sonangol’s official accounts in Angola. There are no accounts belonging to private individuals. It is so detailed we can be, he says to Klassekampen.
Source: NTB scanpix/ Norway Today
