Norwegian Prime Minister Jonas Gahr Støre will testify on 30 September at the first day of parliament's hearing on the foreign ministry's Epstein links, alongside former foreign ministers Børge Brende and Ine Eriksen Søreide.

Former foreign minister Anniken Huitfeldt and the current foreign minister, Espen Barth Eide, will testify on 1 October, NTB reported on 21 September. Development minister Åsmund Aukrust and five of his predecessors, Anne Beathe Tvinnereim, Dag-Inge Ulstein, Nikolai Astrup, Heikki Eidsvoll Holmås and Erik Solheim, have also been called.

Thorbjørn Jagland, a former prime minister and foreign minister, has not been called. Norway's economic crime unit, Økokrim, charged him with aggravated corruption in February over his dealings with Epstein. He denies wrongdoing.

The Storting's scrutiny and constitutional affairs committee is asking what the ministry knew about officials' ties to Epstein and how it checked the organisations it funded. NRK reported in May that the hearing would be held on 29 and 30 September.

Epstein died in a U.S. jail in August 2019 while awaiting trial on rape trafficking charges. The U.S. Justice Department released 3 million more pages from his files on 30 January.

Ministers and questions

Støre is called over his time as foreign minister from 2005 to 2012. Brende held the post from 2013 to 2017 and Søreide from 2017 to 2021.

The committee sent Barth Eide 29 written questions in February, Altinget reported. It asked how the ministry handled a 2019 whistleblower report about the International Peace Institute in New York and whether the ministry backed Jagland's 2009 campaign to lead the Council of Europe. Støre got one question, on what the government had done since the files came out.

Brende quit as president of the World Economic Forum on 26 February. He said he had three business dinners with Epstein in 2018 and 2019 and exchanged a few emails and texts with him. A review by the forum found nothing more.

Jagland

Jagland was prime minister from 1996 to 1997 and foreign minister from 2000 to 2001. He chaired the Norwegian Nobel Committee from 2009 to 2015 and ran the Council of Europe from 2009 to 2019.

The Council of Europe lifted his immunity on 11 February at Norway's request. Økokrim charged him the next day and searched his homes in Oslo and Risør. Prosecutors are looking at gifts, trips and loans he received while he led the Nobel Committee and the Council of Europe.

Jagland visited Epstein's homes in New York and Miami, the New York Times reported. His wife and adult children holidayed in Palm Beach in 2014 on Epstein's credit card, the paper reported. Emails in the files show a family trip to Epstein's Caribbean island was planned for 2014 and then cancelled, Al Jazeera reported.

His lawyer, Anders Brosveet, said the contact with Epstein was unwise and that Jagland received no benefits. The maximum sentence for aggravated corruption in Norway is 10 years.

Juul and Rød-Larsen

Økokrim charged Mona Juul, then Norway's ambassador to Jordan and Iraq, with aggravated corruption in February. Her husband, the diplomat Terje Rød-Larsen, was charged with complicity. Juul resigned as ambassador.

Epstein ordered $250,000 paid to Rød-Larsen in 2015, AFP reported. In 2018 the couple bought an Oslo flat for NOK 14 million, about half its market value, after Epstein stepped in. Epstein's will left $10 million to their two children.

Rød-Larsen was president of the International Peace Institute from 2005 until he resigned on 29 October 2020. Epstein's foundation gave the institute $375,000 in 2012. Norway's foreign ministry had given it NOK 130 million by 2020, VG reported.

Rød-Larsen's lawyer, John Christian Elden, said in February his client was sure the case would be dropped. Juul's lawyer, Thomas Skjelbred, said he expected her to be cleared.

Commission and U.S. evidence

Parliament has also set up an independent commission, led by former Dagens Næringsliv chief executive Amund Djuve, to look at the foreign ministry's dealings back to the 1993 Oslo Accords. It must report by 31 January 2028 and cannot decide whether anyone committed a crime. Støre opposed setting it up, saying in February it was not "the right instrument."

State prosecutor Marianne Bender told the Washington Post on 9 September that the U.S. Justice Department had not approved Økokrim's request for unreleased evidence in the Juul and Rød-Larsen case. In the Jagland case, state prosecutor Anne Allum said on 11 September that Økokrim had not yet sent its request for help with inquiries in the U.S.