Norway launches probe into 11 senior officials over US Epstein files links

Norway investigates over $13m in state grants linked to Epstein and top ministers.Norway’s Parliament has launched an investigation into 11 current and former high-ranking ministers — including Prime Minister Jonas Gahr Stoere — over alleged ties and grants linked to the late convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein.US President Donald Trump’s Department of Justice in January released millions of Epstein-related documents, revealing connections to politicians, royals and the ultra-rich around the world.Norway, home of the Nobel Peace Prize and often a fulcrum of international diplomacy, has seen major fallout, triggering parliamentary inquiries and police investigations.The public hearing, which began on Wednesday, comes in light of reports that the Foreign Ministry allocated over 130 million kroner ($13.5m) to the International Peace Institute between 1997 and 2018.The United Nations-affiliated think-tank was led by Terje Rod-Larsen, a prominent Norwegian diplomat and chief architect of the 1993 Oslo Accords, from 2005 to 2020. Stoere, who has denied any wrongdoing, served as foreign minister from 2005 to 2012.A central figure in the Middle East peace talks in the 1990s, Rod-Larsen was implicated in the files and Norwegian media investigations that exposed an alleged relationship involving illicit loans and visa fraud for sex-trafficked women. Epstein also left Rod-Larsen’s children millions of dollars in his will.The government must explain what it is doing to restore trust in the foreign service, said Jonas Andersen Sayed, who chaired the hearing at Parliament’s Committee on Scrutiny and Constitutional Affairs.