OSLO, Feb. 12 (Xinhua) -- A former Norwegian Prime Minister and high-ranking international diplomat has been formally listed as a suspect for aggravated corruption over the Epstein files, his lawyer confirmed on Thursday.
The announcement followed coordinated raids by Okokrim, Norway's national authority for investigating and prosecuting economic and environmental crime, on multiple properties belonging to Thorbjorn Jagland.
The raids occurred less than 24 hours after the Council of Europe's Committee of Ministers voted unanimously to waive Jagland's diplomatic immunity, allowing Norwegian authorities to investigate acts performed in his official capacity during his decade-long tenure as secretary general of the Council of Europe.
The investigation comes after the U.S. Department of Justice said on Jan. 30 that more than 3 million additional pages of materials had been published under the Epstein Files Transparency Act. Jeffrey Epstein, who died in 2019, was a U.S. financier accused of sex trafficking.
Norwegian media have reported that the newly released materials shed further light on Jagland's contacts with Epstein, including plans for a family visit to Epstein's private Caribbean island in 2014 that was later canceled.
On Thursday morning, investigators from Okokrim searched Jagland's primary apartment in Oslo and his holiday residence in Risor. Witnesses saw officers removing boxes and suitcases from the Oslo property, according to Norwegian broadcaster NRK.
Under Norwegian law, the use of such coercive measures automatically grants an individual the formal status of "charged."
"I have only one thing to say, and that is that I am very glad the case is being clarified," Jagland told the press as he left his apartment, accompanied by his lawyer.
Jagland served as Norway's prime minister from 1996 to 1997, as secretary general of the Council of Europe from 2009 to 2019, and as chairman of the Norwegian Nobel Committee from 2009 to 2015. ■
