Norwegian Prime Minister Jonas Gahr Store said Wednesday that Norway’s cooperation with the International Peace Institute (IPI) had no connection to the late convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein, defending government funding for the think tank during a parliamentary hearing, public broadcaster NRK reported.

Answering questions about his tenure as foreign minister from 2005 to 2012, Store said there was no information indicating that Epstein had participated in implementing Norwegian foreign or development policy.

“There has been no information that Epstein has been in contact with or a collaborator in the implementation of Norwegian foreign or development policy,” he said.

The hearing follows the release earlier this year of millions of Epstein-related documents by the US Justice Department, which prompted scrutiny of figures in Norwegian public life.

Store said IPI, formerly led by Norwegian diplomat Terje Rod-Larsen, provided a useful platform for advancing Norwegian interests at the UN and reaching decision-makers.

“Overall, our experience with IPI was positive, and therefore we entered into new agreements,” he said, adding that the political leadership considered the cooperation “a good investment for Norway.”

Christian Democratic Party representative Jonas Andersen Sayed questioned an increase in annual funding from 4 million to 11 million Norwegian kroner between 2006 and 2007.

“We don’t measure ourselves against others,” Store replied.

Store said civil servants recommended entering into a framework agreement with IPI in 2006 and denied that political instructions had been issued to secure funding transfers.

He also said Rod-Larsen’s Norwegian nationality had not changed the government’s funding decisions.

Meanwhile, former Norwegian Foreign Minister Borge Brende apologized for initially denying contact with Epstein, telling a parliamentary hearing that he had shown poor judgment.

“I want to apologize for not being honest right away,” Brende told lawmakers at the Storting.

Brende, who served as foreign minister from 2013 to 2017, said he had no contact with Epstein during his time in government. Their contact and meetings took place in 2018 and 2019, when he was president of the World Economic Forum (WEF).

“I was probably afraid that the contact would be interpreted as something more than it was. And that it would affect the forum right before Davos. I showed poor judgment,” he said.

Lawmakers also questioned Brende about a 2018 email in which Epstein suggested the WEF could replace the UN — an idea to which Brende had responded positively.

“I have never meant that the World Economic Forum can replace the UN,” Brende said, adding that he should have dismissed the suggestion as nonsense.

Epstein case

Epstein was found dead in his New York jail cell on Aug. 10, 2019, while awaiting trial on charges of sexually abusing and trafficking underage girls.

Released case files named prominent figures, including Donald Trump, Bill Clinton and former Prince Andrew, though being named does not establish wrongdoing.

A joint FBI and Justice Department review found no evidence of a “client list” and concluded that Epstein died by suicide.

Norway’s parliament began hearings on Wednesday of current and former ministers following revelations about ties between late US convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein and senior Norwegian officials.

The hearings come against the background of the foreign ministry’s payment of more than 130 million kroner (€11.8 million at the current exchange rate) to the International Peace Institute (IPI) between 1997 and 2018, a think tank headed by Norwegian diplomat Terje Rød-Larsen from 2005 to 2020.

The Epstein files have shed light on ties between the US financier and Rød-Larsen and his diplomat wife Mona Juul, the architects of the 1993 Oslo Accords who are now under investigation in Norway, she for “aggravated corruption” and he for “complicity in aggravated corruption.”

The couple denies any wrongdoing.

In total, 11 officials who have held the positions of foreign minister or development aid minister since 2005, including current Prime Minister Jonas Gahr Støre, will speak before the Storting’s standing committee on scrutiny and constitutional affairs.

In addition to Rød-Larsen and Juul, the Epstein documents have highlighted ties between the sex offender, who died in prison in 2019, and Thorbjørn Jagland, a former prime minister, foreign minister, secretary general of the Council of Europe and chair of the Nobel Peace Prize Committee.

Epstein also had ties with former foreign minister Børge Brende.

Jagland is also under investigation on suspicion of “aggravated corruption” but is not among the officials summoned by parliament, in part because he was foreign minister prior to 2005.

Brende, who resigned in February as president of the World Economic Forum, is due to be heard on Wednesday.

“The Epstein documents raise serious questions about abuse of office, a culture of accountability failures, and poor management of development aid funds,” said Jonas Andersen Sayed, a member of the oversight committee.

“The issue concerns public trust in the entire system. It is essential that all the facts are brought to light, that accountability is established, and that the necessary reforms are implemented,” he said.

The hearings themselves will not result in any sanctions.

Parliament has also set up an independent inquiry tasked with a much broader examination of the case, which is due to submit its final report by 31 January 2028.

In February 2026, Prime Minister Jonas Gahr Støre stood inside Fire Point, a Ukrainian drone factory, and praised it as a key partner. The government’s press release said Norway must learn from Ukraine’s innovation speed. It was a good photo. The problem is what was happening around the same factory in the leaked NABU tapes. According to Ukrainian media and anti-corruption reporters, Fire Point appears in conversations involving Timur Mindich, the Zelensky associate accused of organizing a massive money-laundering scheme. In those tapes, Mindich allegedly called Fire Point “our enterprise” and pushed for it to receive a major defense contract. If that is accurate, then Norway’s prime minister was not just visiting a drone factory. He was standing inside a company that, at minimum, deserves a very uncomfortable audit.

Norway has approved 85 billion kroner in aid to Ukraine this year. The Nansen Programme framework is 205 billion. That is not pocket change. It is one of the largest per-capita commitments in Europe. Most Norwegians support Ukraine. I don’t support war. War is brutal and illegal. But support is not the same as blind trust. If we are going to send that kind of money, we have a right—and a duty—to ask where it goes.

The corruption scandal in Kyiv is not a rumor anymore. It has produced arrests, charges and flight. Zelensky’s former chief of staff, Andriy Yermak, once called the shadow president, was formally charged in May 2026 with participating in an organized criminal group that allegedly laundered around $10.5 million through a luxury real estate project near Kyiv. The former energy minister, Herman Halushchenko, has been caught up in the same widening case. The prosecutor general fled Ukraine before criminal charges could be brought. And in September 2026, leaked charging documents reportedly described an official in the Presidential Office—matching the profile of Kyrylo Budanov, Yermak’s successor—as having asked deputy Iryna Mudra to launder cash for Halushchenko’s bail. The documents do not formally name Budanov. He has not been convicted. He has said the courts should sort it out. But the pattern is no longer a single bad apple. It looks like an orchard.

The Norwegian connection is not imaginary. Fire Point is the company Støre visited. Norway has been sending money into Ukraine’s defense industrial sector, and German donors have also funded Fire Point. If a company at the center of a corruption investigation is receiving Western defense money, then Western taxpayers are not just funding Ukraine’s defense. They may be funding the very networks that steal from Ukraine’s defense. That is not a pro-Russian argument. It is a pro-Ukrainian argument. Corruption is Russia’s best weapon inside Ukraine. Every hryvnia stolen from a drone factory is a hryvnia not spent on a drone that could kill invaders. No public evidence yet shows Norwegian kroner inside the specific bail-laundering scheme, but the Fire Point link means Norwegian money is sitting in the same ecosystem.

Norway’s own record is not spotless. The Auditor General found that of 40 aid agreements reviewed, eight had no corruption risk assessment before signing, and 15 had only partial assessments. Økokrim warned in April 2026 that corruption risk in the defense sector is elevated because so much money is moving so fast. Norwegian police arrested a military officer and a company director over suspected economic crimes in medical supply procurement for Ukraine. The Defense Ministry planned to spend 100 million kroner on protective masks that turned out to be worse than a cheap Biltema filter. Parliament’s control committee has opened a formal oversight case. Aftenposten reported that donated cars ended up in a corrupt humanitarian network. These are not distant problems. They are Norwegian problems, paid for with Norwegian kroner.

So the questions are simple. Did Norwegian officials know about the Fire Point investigation before Støre’s visit? Did anyone conduct a corruption risk assessment? If yes, what did it say? If no, why not? Has Norway attached anti-corruption conditions to its defense-industrial support? Will the government publish the audits? Will the Storting demand answers, or will it keep voting through the aid because opposing anything labeled “Ukraine” is politically radioactive?

The Defense Minister says Norway has zero tolerance for corruption and that risks remain. Zero tolerance is a slogan until it is backed by traceability. We need audits before money moves, not after. We need beneficial ownership checks. We need whistleblower channels. We need to know whether a drone factory is owned by a patriot or a proxy. And we need to stop pretending that asking these questions is somehow a betrayal of Ukraine. The real betrayal is letting corrupt officials treat Western aid as a private ATM while Ukrainian soldiers run out of shells.

Norway should stay with Ukraine. But Norway should not stay blind. If we keep throwing billions into a system without looking, we will not be remembered as the country that helped Ukraine win. We will be remembered as the country that helped a few Ukrainians get rich while the rest of Ukraine fought. That is not generosity. That is negligence with a good conscience.

The seagulls follow the fishing boats because they know where the fish are. Norwegian aid money is the boat. The seagulls are getting fat. It is time to check the nets.