Norway Parliament Opens Inquiry Into 11 Top Officials Over Epstein-Linked Grants and Ties

Norway's parliament has opened a formal investigation into 11 current and former senior government ministers, including Prime Minister Jonas Gahr Stoere, over alleged connections and state funding linked to the late convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein. The proceedings began with a public hearing on Wednesday before the parliament's Committee on Scrutiny and Constitutional Affairs, marking one of the most significant political reckonings to emerge from the release of United States Department of Justice files on Epstein's network.

The hearing follows the January release of millions of Epstein-related documents by the U.S. Department of Justice under President Donald Trump, which exposed connections between the disgraced financier and politicians, royalty and wealthy elites across the globe. Norway, a country long associated with the Nobel Peace Prize and international diplomacy, has experienced unusually heavy fallout, with the disclosures prompting both parliamentary inquiries and police investigations.

At the center of the Norwegian case is the revelation that the Ministry of Foreign Affairs allocated more than 130 million kroner, equivalent to roughly $13.5 million, to the International Peace Institute between 1997 and 2018. The New York-based think tank, affiliated with the United Nations, was led from 2005 to 2020 by Terje Rod-Larsen, a prominent Norwegian diplomat best known as a chief architect of the 1993 Oslo Accords.

Stoere, who has denied any wrongdoing, served as Norway's foreign minister from 2005 to 2012, a period that overlaps with Rod-Larsen's tenure at the institute's helm. Opposition figures have argued that the government must fully account for how the funding was approved and monitored, and what oversight, if any, was applied to the think tank's leadership.

Rod-Larsen was a central figure in Middle East peace negotiations during the 1990s. He was subsequently implicated in the Epstein files and in Norwegian media investigations that uncovered an alleged relationship involving illicit loans and visa fraud benefiting women who were victims of sex trafficking. Epstein also bequeathed millions of dollars to Rod-Larsen's children in his will, a detail that has intensified scrutiny of the diplomat's financial and personal ties to the financier.

Speaking at the hearing, committee chair Jonas Andersen Sayed said the government needed to explain what steps it was taking to restore confidence in the foreign service. He pointed to what he described as a pattern of deeply flawed judgment among those associated with Epstein. "There are many people who have demonstrated very poor judgement," Andersen Sayed told Reuters, referring to Epstein's circle of friends.

Testifying before the committee, Stoere insisted he had never had any relationship with Epstein and characterized the problems as isolated lapses rather than evidence of a systemic culture inside the Foreign Ministry. "There is no reason to speak of an unhealthy culture at a large organisation just because of what one or several people may have done," the prime minister told lawmakers. He added that, to his knowledge, Epstein exercised no influence over Norway's foreign policy, its development aid or any other government decision-making.

Not everyone in Norway's political class agrees that the inquiry is warranted. Erik Solheim, a former development minister scheduled to testify on Wednesday, has described parliament's probe as an overreaction. In his view, the investigation risks stifling the foreign service by pushing diplomats toward unnecessary self-restraint, ultimately harming the national interest. His argument reflects a broader debate in Oslo over whether the response to the Epstein disclosures is proportionate or has tipped into a politically driven hunt for scapegoats.

Beyond those appearing before parliament, several other prominent Norwegians with Epstein ties are under police investigation on corruption accusations. They include former prime minister Thorbjoern Jagland, Rod-Larsen and his wife, the former diplomat Mona Juul. All three have denied any wrongdoing, and no charges have been proven in court.

Andersen Sayed framed the stakes in sweeping terms, saying the documents raise troubling questions about abuse of office, a culture in which accountability failed and poor stewardship of development aid funds. "The issue concerns public trust in the entire system," he said. "It is essential that all the facts are brought to light, that accountability is established and that the necessary reforms are implemented."

The parliamentary committee's work is running alongside a separate, independent inquiry established by parliament to conduct a much broader examination of the case. That inquiry is due to deliver its final report by January 31, 2028, a timeline that suggests the political and institutional consequences in Norway may unfold over years rather than months.

For a small nation that has long positioned itself as a moral voice in international affairs, the episode represents a reputational test. Norway's diplomats have historically mediated conflicts, managed significant development aid budgets and hosted high-profile peace processes. The allegation that state grant money may have flowed, even indirectly, to an institution led by a man entangled with Epstein's network strikes at the credibility of those institutions.

The case also illustrates how the U.S. document releases have reverberated far beyond Washington. What began as a disclosure of files has become, in Norway, a test of parliamentary oversight, police independence and the willingness of a governing elite to submit itself to public scrutiny. With the prime minister himself among the 11 officials under examination, the inquiry's findings will shape not only individual careers but also public confidence in Norway's political and diplomatic establishment.