The management team is accused of bribing "a Libyan minister and a senior Indian official" with $8 million (5.9 million euros), the police said in a statement.

   

Yara said two days earlier that it had been hit by a fine of 295 million kroner (35.4 million euros, $48.3 million) for these and other payments to Russia, made via a Swiss subsidiary.

   

In total, the bribes amounted to around $12 million between 2004 and 2009.

 

The identities of the executives have not been officially disclosed, but local financial daily DN published four names on Friday.

   

Apart from two Norwegians Thorleif Enger and Tor Holba — the chief executive and head of division at the time — whose involvement was previously known to the police , the paper also points to the company's legal chief US-citizen Ken Wallace and Frenchman Daniel Clauw, the chief operating officer.

 

Yara did not report the corruption allegations until 2011, despite having heard about them in 2008.

   

The bribes related to Yara's effort to create a joint venture in India in 2006-2007, which ultimately failed. In Libya, the company allegedly made suspect payments to a minister in the Kadhafi regime just ahead of creating another joint venture.