Dagens Næringsliv receives the SKUP award for the disclosure of the construction procurement scandal in Oslo Municipality
A vague tip led to the disclosure of the number of cases involving shady purchases of housing by the Oslo Municipality. For that reason, Dagens Næringsliv (DN) is rewarded with the year’s SKUP (Scoop) award.
The prize was awarded at the SKUP conference in Tønsberg on Saturday night.
– We greatly appreciate such recognition of our work. For us, the SKUP Prize is the most prestigous one can win as a journalist in Norway. It is extra gratifying to be awarded for a matter that we view as very important. It’s about squandering of large amounts of public funds, money that ought to be spent on the weakest in society, says the DN journalists; Knut Gjernes, Kjetil Sæter and Lars Kristian Solem to NTB.
Together with photographer Fredrik Solstad, they spent many months trying to get to the bottom after the editors received a tip that “persons are enriching themselves by selling apartments to the Oslo municipality.”
500 purchases
The housing development case in Oslo has grown steadily and now includes 500 apartment purchases at in excess of NOK 1.4 billion.
A bankruptcy jockey and a consultant in the municipal enterprise Boligbygg (Housing) has been indicted by the Economic Crimes Unit (Økokrim) for gross corruption following the disclosures. Additionally, city council member and lawyer, Geir Lippestad, was replaced after the scandal was revealed.
CEO in Boligbygg, Jon Carlsen, has also resigned after the scandal became known, while the entire board has been replaced.
investigatation
The municipal auditor is to scrutinize Boligbygg’s purchases of properties in recent years.
The chairperson of the control committee in Oslo municipality, Ola Kvisgaard (Conservatives), has referred to the case as “one of the biggest scandals the Oslo municipality has been exposed to for a long time”.
Facts about the SKUP award 2018
- The SKUP Prize for 2018 was awarded to Dagens Næringsliv and the journalists behind the Boligbygg scandal, Kjetil Sæter, Knut Gjernes, Lars Kristian Solem and photographer Fredrik Solstad.
- Diploma: Child welfare bllions – VG – Maria Mikkelsen, Amalie Frøystad Nærø and Shazia Majid
- Diploma: IT disclosures in public agencies – NRK – Line Tomter and Anne Cecilie Remen
- Diploma: Garbage crisis – Dagbladet – Vegard Venli, Eiliv Frich Flydal and Ola Strømman
- Diploma: Kystad Agreement – Adresseavisen – Lajla Ellingsen and Mari K. By Rise
- Diploma: The Neglected Bridges – VG-Sondre Nilsen, Øyvind Engan and Mona Grivi Norman
© NTB Scanpix /Dagens Næringsliv / #Norway Today
