Actions on suspicion of ongoing loan fraud and corruption.
Just over eight o’clock, plainclothes police entered Nordea’s head office in Norway, at Majorstuen in Oslo. They began searching the workplaces of several employees.
The same morning, the police raided several private addresses in Oslo, in a larger coordinated operation that includes over 50 police officers.
– We have today arrested five people who are charged with gross corruption or complicity in gross corruption, says police attorney Kristin Rusdal.
Two of those arrested are employees of Nordea.
Article on loan agents
On Tuesday morning, VG published an article about the gray market for loans in Norway and loan agents – intermediaries who help customers get loans from the bank.
In a hidden recording, one of the loan agents talks about how he can obtain any loan in the bank, for a payment of several hundred thousand kroner in cash. He says that the backers he works with have contacts inside the bank.
In a later interview with VG, the loan agent says that it is about Nordea, Norway’s second largest bank.
– The basis for suspicion is that they are connected to loan applications that are based on falsified documentation to Nordea, says police attorney Rusdal about the accused.
Loans of NOK 150 million are being investigated, but the sum may grow.
– Nordea has announced that there will be more cases, says Rusdal.
Allegedly rearman arrested
Just before half past seven, five plainclothes police officers went to a private address on Sørenga in Oslo. There, the alleged ringleader was arrested, before a search team of three people entered the apartment to secure any evidence.
In Greenland, a bank employee in Nordea was arrested at a private address around the same time, VG’s photographer observed on the spot.
He was led into a car, before plainclothes police entered the apartment complex with a large cardboard box.
Rusdal in the police states that the action has targeted more than ten addresses in the Oslo area.
– It is a big case, so it will be a comprehensive investigation, she says.
– We have uncovered conditions internally that have led us earlier this year to report to the police the findings that have been made. The conditions that have been uncovered may indicate a breach of the rules and are linked to lending of money, said communications director Christian Steffensen in Nordea to VG in the article on Tuesday morning.
