75 bottles of wine at one dinner for NIF
75 bottles of wine at one dinner and an after party bill of several thousands; the sports federation has spent tens of thousands of NOK on alcohol. On Wednesday, Norway’s Sports Federation (NIF) presented the bills for the last five years. There we found lots of units of alcohol.
ULLEVAAL STADION: On Wednesday, the Norwegian Sports Federation (NIF) opened up for the press to see the receipts from travel bills in the last five years.
It appears that a lot of alcohol has been consumed at the expense of NIF in recent years.
Five people celebrated World Championship gold medal at NOK 10,000
Among other things, there are bills from after parties, bars and restaurants in both Norway and abroad. Among the receipts VG finds the following:
July 29, 2012: A £ 6247 (NOK 60,000) bill at Il Baretto Bar / Restaurant. On the bill we find 50 dinners, 75 bottles of wine, 26 beers and 22 grappa.
During the London Olympics, NIF spent a total of NOK 237,000 in this restaurant alone. Athletes organized several trips for sponsors and others they invited to the Olympics.
October 26, 2012: Receipts with a total cost of 6,070, -. On the receipt, it states “After party, Olympics reception. Attendees were ‘Inge & Co, Sports commission, sponsors, Government members, practitioners and supporting parties companies’. The after party paid for using NIF’s credit card.
January 28, 2013: NIF’s credit card is once again used. This time nine people have been on a farewell dinner for Knut Røsland in Phenix. Among the nine are four from the sports federation, Inge Andersen included. The dinner itself cost NOK 7,600, – but with drinks added the total bill was at NOK 18,000.
August 29, 2014: Inge Andersen and four others in the support went out to celebrate that Birgit Skarstein had won a gold in the World Championships the same day. Skarstein did not attend the party. The bill was a total of €1,151, equating around NOK 9,500 at the then exchange rate. The receipt shows that the quintet has enjoyed five cups of coffee in addition to a variety of alcoholic beverages.
Within the guidelines
On several of the bills is the name of Inge Andersen is recuring. He was General Secretary of the Norwegian Sports Council (NIF) in the period 2004-2017.
– NIF is a large organization with many tasks and activities both in sports Norway and as part of the international sports family. Of course, from this follows both expectations and obligations regarding presence at various meetings and events, both nationally and internationally. The expenses that I have had in my work for sports associations for travel, stay and representation are within the guidelines and powers that the sports council has given the Secretary-General of the NIF, Andersen states through communications manager at NIF, Niels Røine.
Apart from that, Andersen says that further questions must be addressed to Røine.
– I am no longer Secretary General and therefore do not want to comment on this. All further questions must be submitted to NIF.
Change of rules in NIF
The list of alcoholic units that have been drunk on the sports federation’s expense in recent years is long. There are a wide range of dinners and bills of thousands of Norwegian kroner. In some cases, the bills have since been further invoiced to those who participated on a trip, in other cases, NIF has taken the entire bill.
– It has been too easy to reimburse alcohol at the expense of NIF, says Communications Manager Nils Røine.
He says that in 2016 there was a discussion about the issue within the sports federation. This led to changed guidelines.
– The normal procedure is that alcohol is no longer being refunded, says Røine, adding that there are exceptions if a prior approval has been obtained.
– It may be in connection where dinners where it is seen as natural or if you travel with partners.
He believes it is natural that NIF has tightened the rules.
– With our profile aimed at children and adolescents, it is natural that NIF has stricter rules than other organizations, he rounds of.
© VG / NTB Scanpix / Norway Today
