The control committee is asking for new answers about the government’s purchase of Meraker Brug

The government bought Meraker Brug in Trøndelag in 2022. The Storting’s Control and Constitution Committee opened a case on the purchase and will conclude at the beginning of May, writes Today’s business.

The committee has now asked the Ministry of Agriculture for new information.

Closed bidding round

Among other things, they ask the ministry to consider completely or partially lifting the silence surrounding Pareto’s valuation of Meraker Brug. Pareto was the Ministry of Agriculture’s financial adviser, and it has previously been known that they assessed the value of the shares in Meraker Brug at up to NOK 2.4 billion.

Among other things, the committee will also have answers to whether the then Minister of Agriculture Sandra Borch (Sp) did anything to limit the costs for the state, and whether the ministry tried to achieve a more transparent bidding round.

The bidding round for the property was closed. The bidders were not told which other bids were in, how many bidders were involved, or who bid.

– Tricking the rules for using oil money

The purchase was financed outside the normal budget process. A condition for being able to do this is that the investment gives as good a return as having the money in the oil fund.

– Yes, the more we in the Conservative Party have gone into this, the more it becomes clear to us that this is trickery with the rules for the use of oil money, says the Conservative Party’s Peter Frølich.

He is chairman of the control committee, but emphasizes that he is speaking about the Conservative Party’s view on the matter.

Defends the purchase

If the exemption rules are to be followed, Meraker Bruk must provide an annual return of around NOK 100 million each year, Frølich believes. Meraker Brug has had an average annual profit of NOK 4 million since 1998. However, Finance Minister Trygve Slagsvold Vedum (Sp) has said that such an investment must be seen over time.

Vedum and Agriculture Minister Geir Pollestad (Sp) have defended the purchase in a committee hearing on 21 March.

– I insist that the purchase was made after a proper process, says Pollestad to DN.

They emphasized during the hearing that it was a political priority for the government to ensure that the property ended up in the hands of the state. Among other things, they emphasized that it is important to ensure accessibility and free access.

Vedum pointed out that an external adviser hired by the Ministry of Finance believed that the property could be worth up to NOK 2.8 billion.