On Friday, Økokrim found documents stamped 'strictly confidential' and 'secret' at Terje Rød-Larsen's home, which the agency assesses belong to the Foreign Ministry and will be handed over to them. These documents are from 1993 and 1994 and relate to the Oslo process. Juul and Rød-Larsen are charged with gross corruption and complicity in this due to their contact with Jeffrey Epstein, though both deny criminal guilt.
Several of the documents are stamped 'strictly confidential', and one folder is marked 'secret'. This discovery marks a new chapter in a document hunt that began in the early 2000s when researcher Hilde Henriksen Waage discovered that documents from the Oslo process were missing from the Foreign Ministry's archives, which Rød-Larsen and Juul are considered central to. The National Archives and the Foreign Ministry agreed in 2006 to try to find the documents.
Mona Juul at that time denied having documents, while Terje Rød-Larsen, who was not employed by the Foreign Ministry, would not give what he had to the National Archives. The National Archives has several times since attempted to obtain what Rød-Larsen himself has referred to as an 'extensive private archive'. He has rejected this until the case came into the public spotlight again in connection with the Epstein files.
The Foreign Ministry assessed that Rød-Larsen could not be ordered to hand over his documents because he was not employed by the Foreign Ministry during the Oslo process, though the ministry paid for Rød-Larsen's work through grants to his employer Fafo. Regarding the handling of Terje Rød-Larsen's archive from the Oslo process, the Foreign Ministry acknowledges that they 'could have conducted a more thorough archival assessment'. The Foreign Ministry has not previously been aware that Juul and Rød-Larsen have stored classified documents at their homes and acknowledges that their systems were not good enough back in time.
On Saturday afternoon, the National Archives and the Foreign Ministry, in consultation with the parties in the case, retrieved documents from Terje Rød-Larsen's basement storage. The documents are now at the Foreign Ministry for closer review. The Foreign Ministry also confirms that they retrieved documents at Rød-Larsen's on Saturday.
Økokrim seized documents from the Oslo process in February, which have been missing from the Foreign Ministry's archives for over 30 years. Several of these are marked classified and will be handed over to the Foreign Ministry at a preliminary unknown time. In a letter from Økokrim to the Foreign Ministry, which NRK has gained insight into, Økokrim writes that there was an extensive amount of documents in the basement storage belonging to the couple's shared home.
Økokrim did not rule out that there were more documents from the Oslo process in the basement storage belonging to the Frogner apartment of Rød-Larsen and Juul. These are the documents the National Archives and the Foreign Ministry have now retrieved. The documents were seized during the search of Terje Rød-Larsen's and Mona Juul's shared home.
If the letter is to be understood such that this is subject to archiving in the Foreign Ministry, I must ask for time and opportunity to review this which may be located in discarded boxes at home, she wrote then.
Økokrim has conducted an overall review of the documents, which relate among other things to communication between high-ranking persons in the Foreign Service before and after the signing of the Oslo agreement. Some of the documents are classified. During the search, Økokrim was aware that documents from the peace process were missing and therefore believe it is important to return these to the Foreign Ministry as soon as possible.
The charges appear so general that they in practice cannot be countered, say lawyers Thomas Skjelbred and John Christian Elden in a press release. They represent Mona Juul, who is charged with gross corruption, and Terje Rød-Larsen, who is charged with complicity in gross corruption. The charges came after new information from the last publicly released documents from the Jeffrey Epstein case.
The lawyers believe there is no basis for the corruption allegations. The Control Committee's members have today received the rest of the 29 questions they sent to Foreign Minister Espen Barth Eide and Prime Minister Jonas Gahr Støre. Hege Bae Nyholt, member of the Control and Constitutional Committee for Rødt, writes that there are still many questions they do not have answers to.
She receives support from Geir Pollestad (Sp) in the committee. Ten of the questions were answered on February 24. The government asked for a postponed deadline, which they did not get, and today the rest came.
The Foreign Ministry asked Mona Juul already in 2006 if she had documents that should be in the ministry's archive. Mona Juul said she did not have such 'official documents' but could not rule out having notebooks, pads, and other 'notes' from the period. The Foreign Ministry writes that they have no documentation indicating that such 'notebooks/pads' or other items were delivered.
The Auditor General uncovered inadequate control over the allocation of grants to IPI from 2007 to 2012. The National Archives is also in contact with the Israel State Archives, which will make available declassified documents they have from the process. The National Security Authority (NSM) is aware of the case through the media.
PST is following developments in the Epstein case and has ongoing dialogue with Økokrim, which is leading the investigation.