Oslo (AFP) – Norwegian police announced Thursday the opening of an investigation into former Prime Minister Thorbjørn Jagland on suspicion of “aggravated corruption” due to his past relationships with American sex criminal Jeffrey Epstein.

Published on: 05/02/2026 - 23:31

Head of government from 1996 to 1997, Mr. Jagland was president of the Nobel committee which awards the Nobel Peace Prize and secretary general of the Council of Europe when he forged links with Mr. Epstein in the 2010s.

The police "opened an investigation targeting (...) Thorbjørn Jagland, for suspicion of aggravated corruption", indicated the National Authority for the Investigation and Prosecution of Economic and Environmental Offenses, Økokrim, in a press release.

“There are reasonable grounds to open an investigation since he held the functions of chairman of the Nobel committee and secretary general of the Council of Europe during the period covered by the documents made public” in the Epstein affair, said the head of Økokrim, Pål Lønseth.

Asked by AFP, Mr. Jagland's lawyer, Anders Brosveet, did not immediately respond.

“From what we know, we are calm about the outcome” of the investigation,” Mr. Brosveet told the Norwegian newspaper Verdens Gang (VG).

“It is above all in Jagland's interest to obtain definitive clarification from Økokrim, rather than seeing the entire media pack each carry out their own little private investigation,” he added.

Financial guarantee?

According to VG, which relies on documents released Friday by the American Department of Justice, Mr. Jagland requested a guarantee from the American financier for the purchase of an apartment, without knowing the outcome of this request.

Now aged 75, the person told the newspaper that the loans for his real estate had all been obtained from the Norwegian bank DNB.

He also stayed with Mr. Epstein in New York in 2018, as well as in Paris in 2015 and 2018, according to these same documents.

He and his family had also planned a trip in 2014 to the American sex criminal's island but that trip was ultimately canceled.

Mr. Jagland had in the past assured that his links with Epstein were “an aspect of normal diplomatic activity”. On Sunday, he told the newspaper Aftenposten that he had shown "an error of judgment" in having the relationship.

Some of his exchanges with Epstein also caused a stir in Norway.

“I have been to Tirana (Albania) — extraordinary girls,” he wrote to her in an email in May 2012. “I cannot continue only with young women, as you know,” he also told her in January 2013.

Request for lifting of immunity

The opening of an investigation “underlines the seriousness of the matter,” commented Norwegian Prime Minister Jonas Gahr Støre.

At Økokrim's request, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs indicated that it would ask the Council of Europe to lift the immunity from which Mr. Jagland benefits in respect of his functions as secretary general, held from 2009 to 2019.

"It is important that all light is shed on this matter. Mr. Jagland's immunity cannot prevent an investigation," said Foreign Minister Espen Barth Eide, quoted in a press release.

For its part, the Nobel Institute indicated on Wednesday that it was awaiting explanations from Mr. Jagland, president of the Nobel committee from 2009 to 2015, on possible financial advantages from Epstein.

Several other Norwegian figures are in the crosshairs because of their links to Epstein: Crown Princess Mette-Marit, a couple of high-profile diplomats Mona Juul (suspended) and Terje Rød-Larsen (retired), as well as the head of the World Economic Forum, Børge Brende.

The mere mention of a person's name in this file does not imply any a priori reprehensible act on the part of that person.

But the documents made public show the existence of links between Epstein and certain figures who often minimized, even denied, such reports.

Already convicted in 2008 for using the services of underage prostitutes, Jeffrey Epstein was then accused of having sexually exploited more than 1,000 young women, including minors again.

He was found hanged in his New York cell in 2019, before his trial.

© 2026 AFP

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