Jeffrey Epstein links leave ex-Council of Europe chief without immunity in new political scandal rocking Norway
Thorbjorn Jagland (left), the former head of the Council of Europe, photographed several years ago with Sergei Lavrov, the Russian foreign minister, PHOTO: Ivan Sekretarev / AP / Profimedia Images
The Council of Europe, the continent's main human rights watchdog, said on Wednesday it had agreed to lift the diplomatic immunity of its former Norwegian secretary-general, allowing police to investigate his links to Jeffrey Epstein.
Norwegian police specializing in economic crime have opened an investigation against Thorbjern Jagland on suspicion of aggravated corruption. In addition to the position of Secretary General of the Council of Europe, which he held for a decade between 2009 and 2019, Jagland served as Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs of Norway, and at one point served as Chairman of the Norwegian Nobel Committee, which nominates the winner of the Peace Prize.
The decision to investigate Jagland was based on information revealed by new documents made public as part of the file on Jeffrey Epstein, the convicted sex offender in the United States who died in custody in 2019.
Anders Brosveet, Jagland's lawyer, said the decision to lift immunity was expected and that his client would cooperate with investigators to clarify all relevant issues.
“He treats this matter with the utmost seriousness, but wishes to emphasize that, in his opinion, there are no circumstances to constitute criminal liability,” Brosveet said in a statement.
The police needed Jagland's diplomatic immunity to be lifted, and the Norwegian Foreign Ministry said it had asked the 46 member states of the Council of Europe's Committee of Ministers to do so.
What investigators believe they have found between Jagland and Epstein
The politician has not yet been charged with any crime, but the investigation will seek to determine whether he received gifts, trips and loans in connection with his position.
“Jagland, as the elected Secretary General of the Council of Europe, would have breached the special trust associated with his position if he accepted a bribe,” Norwegian police said in a February 8 letter asking the Council to lift his immunity.
The release of a new set of documents in the United States on January 30 revealed many of Epstein's previously unknown connections to politicians, royals and ultra-wealthy people in Europe and the US.
The documents show, among other things, that Jagland and Epstein's aides made detailed plans in 2014 for Jagland, his wife, their two children and his son's girlfriend to visit Epstein in Palm Beach and on the Caribbean island he owned.
Jagland, who was then secretary-general of the Council of Europe's human rights watchdog, denied ever visiting Epstein's private island.
In a 2014 email, he asked Epstein for financial help in purchasing an apartment in Oslo.
Epstein asked him to broker a meeting with the head of Russian diplomacy
Emails from 2018 showed that Epstein asked Jagland to broker a meeting with Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov and claimed he had valuable information to offer President Vladimir Putin. Jagland promised to discuss this with Lavrov's assistant.
Norwegian police said on Monday they were also investigating two senior diplomats in another corruption probe linked to Epstein, as Norway's crown princess repeatedly apologized for her friendship with the American financier.
The Norwegian parliament's control committee unanimously agreed on Tuesday to appoint an independent parliamentary commission of inquiry to look into the Oslo-based Foreign Ministry's links to Epstein.
