UDI wants to oust asylum lawyers (Aftenposten)

The Directorate of Immigration (UDI) has been worried for a long time about the growing load of clients some lawyers are piling up, and about how lawyers recruit their clients. The exposure of Terje Tune’s invention of stories for asylum-seekers has now stepped up the process of establishing systems that will make asylum lawyers redundant. "We are talking about measures that are drastic to a certain extent. I believe that we must consider letting a separate organization take care of legal aid for asylum-seekers," said Director General of the Immigration Directorate, Trygve G. Nordby. The model for this plan comes from Denmark. "We have been in contact with the Danish authorities, and they say that the system works well," said Mr. Nordby.

Terje Tune has gone into hiding (Dagsavisen)

Asylum lawyer Terje Tune, who has now been reported to the police, has told Dagsavisen through his own lawyer that he is completely shattered. It has now come to light that Mr. Tune was working with a long list of cases involving foreigners in addition to his asylum cases. He took clients away from other lawyers by offering them free mobile phones. Mr. Tune was not listed as the original lawyer in any of the 209 asylum cases he has worked on since the beginning of this year. "He has lured all of these clients to leave their original lawyers and let him take over their cases. The asylum-seekers have exercised their right to change lawyers as they see fit," Mr. Nordbye said to Dagsavisen.

DnB lowered its offer by NOK three billion (Dagens Næringsliv)

Svein Aaser, CEO of Den norske Bank (DnB), demanded a discount of over NOK three billion at the final negotiations with Storebrand. Mr. Aaser declined to comment on the reasons for the demand. According to Dagens Næringsliv’s sources, DnB’s negotiating team had demanded a conversion ratio of between 1.05 and 1.1 from Storebrand in the final round of negotiations. Within DnB it is being suggested that Mr. Aaser saw an opportunity to get the conversion ratio down as far as 1 to 1, but was willing to accept 1.1 DnB shares for each Storebrand share. The original conversion ratio was 1.33 DnB shares for each Storebrand share.

Finansbanken supported fully by Commission (Aftenposten)

The Banking, Insurance and Securities Commission of Norway denies that Finansbanken may be hiding a billion-kroner loss. This means that Storebrand is getting support in its struggle for credibility against its former partner DnB. As recently as March of this year, Commission inspectors visited Finansbanken. According to the Commission, the inspectors’ findings concurred with the information Storebrand has supplied recently. Diagnosis: the bank is not concealing billion-kroner losses, as DnB has claimed.

NRK regional offices to be closed down (Klassekampen)

Anne Aasheim, regional and news director at the Norwegian Broadcasting Corporation (NRK), must cut costs by NOK ten million. Her response has been to reduce administration and increase journalism. The NRK management’s proposal for changes in its regional offices means that at least three regional offices will be closed down. Ms. Aasheim presented a report yesterday with NRK management’s suggestions for saving NOK ten million. The main points of the report include new radio shows and a stronger presence in outlying districts. Cuts will be made in management, administration and rental costs.

More people are breaking the law (Vårt Land)

Over 200 000 Norwegians were convicted of crimes last year. This means that more than one out of 20 Norwegians has been caught and punished for committing a criminal act in the course of a single year. The increase from the previous year was dramatic. The number of convictions increased by 16 per cent. Statistics Norway is uncertain as to the cause of this increase. Two years ago the Director General of Public Prosecutions ordered the courts to reduce the number of cases waiting to be tried. "Some of the increase may be due to the courts having become more effective, and some may be due to changes in legislation," said Ulla Haslund of Statistics Norway. However, she does not dismiss the possibility that crime rates may have gone up. Nine out of ten convictions resulted in fines, and half of the prison sentences were suspended.

Severing relations with Dørum (Nationen)

New draft legislation relating to Finnmark is making the Sami Parliament see red. Svein-Roald Nystø, President of the Sami Parliament, claims that the draft violates internationally recognized principles regarding the rights of indigenous peoples. Sharp criticism is being directed at Minister of Justice Odd Einar Dørum, and Mr. Nystø refuses to meet with him until the Government has changed its position. The Sami Parliament believes that the proposal does not take into account the ILO Convention, which states that the Government is obligated to identify the lands that are traditionally occupied by the peoples concerned. The Sami should have rights of ownership of the areas that they have traditionally occupied.

Worth noting:

• This year’s wage settlement led to more than 100 i mediation cases. Ninety-five of these succeeded in averting a strike, and State Mediator Reidar Webster is very satisfied. (NTB)
• With Tormod Hermansen as board chairman, IT Fornebu hopes it will be able to find the tenants it has been hoping for. At the top of the list is the new Hewlett-Packard. Carly Fiorina, HP CEO, is expected to visit Fornebu in September. (Dagens Næringsliv)
• Trendy, well-paid advertising executives are those who depend most on credit in Norway. One out of five does not hesitate to overdraw his or her bank account even if it is empty. (Verdens Gang)
• The Norwegian Armed Forces have agreed to pay over NOK 400 million a year to fly with SAS or SAS-owned Braathens and Widerøe until the end of 2004 without having obtained any competing offers. The contract was signed shortly before the Government announced its agreement with the new airlines NAS. (Aftenposten)
• The Financial Times has designated Tandberg as the European company that has given its shareholders the highest returns on their investments during the past year. (Dagens Næringsliv)

Today’s comment from Verdens Gang:

TV2’s exposure of how assistant lawyer Terje Tune has invented tales of torture for asylum-seekers for pay is one of the worst examples of corruption that has come to light in Norway. If we assume that the presentation has not been greatly manipulated, it represents the shoddiest and most cynical abuse of a position of trust that we have ever seen from a person in a position of power here in Norway. Mr. Tune used to be a high-ranking official at the Directorate of Immigration (UDI). His experience from both sides of the table makes his offence all the more despicable. At this point we choose to believe that he is the only rotten egg in the basket. But a huge effort must now be mounted to review all the cases Mr. Tune has been involved with, as well as any other cases in which there is even the slightest suspicion that something of the same sort has happened. This disclosure came at the worst possible time for the UDI. After several weeks in the eye of the storm after having granted asylum to two hijackers, followed by Verdens Gang’s disclosures in the Rubina Rana case, on Monday the Director General of the UDI was highly praised and rewarded with a bottle of Champagne by Minister of Local Government and Regional Development Erna Solberg for having reduced the waiting period for processing applications for asylum. But if reducing the waiting period means leaving openings for gross fraud, there is no reason for Mr. Nordby to open the bottle yet. Several times during the past few weeks, Verdens Gang has questioned whether the reorganization of the UDI has given the directorate too much power at the expense of the politicians. If it proves to be the case that reorganization and a speedup in application processing have been detrimental to inspection routines, then this criticism is justified and strengthened.