Peter Frølich: Cancels hearing if Mehl admits responsibility in the NSM scandal

Frølich speaks up Everything that the control committee is now waiting for a letter from Minister of Justice Emilie Enger Mehl (Sp), and hopes that she “acknowledges in a sentence or two that she is responsible”.

– Hopefully it can be done that way, and then we will probably avoid hearings as well, says Frølich.

In addition to leading the control and constitutional committee, he is the case manager for the handling of the Ministry of Justice’s handling of the scandal in the National Security Authority (NSM).

In December last year, it became known that NSM had taken out an illegal loan in connection with renting a new building in Fornebu. A year and a half following the loan was entered into, the National Audit Office was formally informed of the case by the Ministry of Justice.

In the wake of the scandal, Mehl has given two reports to the Storting, and a publicly appointed committee has submitted its report following reviewing the loan agreements. On Tuesday, the National Audit Office also criticized both the NSM and the ministry.

The fact that the case is already so well informed is one of Frølich’s reasons for why the hearing can be dropped if Mehl admits his responsibility.

– If we get it, as committee chairman and case manager, I will already say that we will cancel the hearing, he tells the newspaper.

Everything has on several occasions spurt flour regarding how much of the responsibility lies with her. She has indicated that responsibility for NSM was transferred from the Ministry of Defense to the Ministry of Justice in 2019, i.e. before she became minister.