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Norway finds counterfeits of new banknotes

Norwegian police have confirmed that counterfeit versions of the country’s new bank notes have entered circulation.

Published: 28 June 2017 12:34 CEST

Norway finds counterfeits of new banknotes

Photo: Terje Pedersen / NTB scanpix

Police in Vestfold have confiscated over 20 false 50 krone notes and five or six false 200 krone notes, reports broadcaster NRK.

The fake 50 krone notes were counterfeits of the old design, while the 200 krone notes were copies of a new banknote recently released amid much publicity.

The new 200 krone notes, which feature an image of a cod on the reverse, were the subject of a quirky promotional video released by the Norwegian national bank that went viral last month.

The video highlighted the many security features on the notes aimed at preventing counterfeiting.

READ ALSO: Norway's new maritime banknotes are here

Three people have been arrested in connection with the counterfeit notes.

Police have received reports of attempted payments with false notes in Tønsberg and and on the islands of Natterøy and Tjøme, according to the report.

“In the Tønsberg district there are now false 50 krone notes and false versions of the new 200 krone notes in circulation,” Knut Erik Ågrav, head of the investigation section at Tønsberg’s police station, told NRK.

A food store on Tjøme was first to report a false note at 11:40 am Tuesday, according to the report.

Police were dispatched and arrested the person who attempted to use the note.

“He had both false 50 krone and 200 krone notes on him. He probably tried [to use the notes] at other locations on Tjøme, a food store and a wine outlet, but was turned away,” Ågrav said.

Additional counterfeit notes were later found after police were called to a theft at a hotel room in Tønsberg, reports NRK.

The notes were found in a nearby room at the hotel after one of the false 50 krone bills was found in the room that had been broken into, according to the report.

Police are now looking into the possibility of a connection between the two separate finds of counterfeits.

Ågrav told NRK that it was “very clear” that further fake notes were still in circulation in Vestfold County, having received several reports from businesses of bills being rejected after cash registers showed them to be false.

Police are so far unable make any comment on the possible origin of the counterfeits.

READ ALSO: Norway's largest bank calls for total end to cash

Norway's ex-biathlon boss jailed for three years for corruption

Norwegian Anders Besseberg, the 78-year-old head of the International Biathlon Union from 1993 to 2018, was found guilty of nine of 10 counts of aggravated corruption during the period 2009-2018, charges he denied.

“I am of course disappointed and surprised about the verdict and some of the judges’ reasoning. I am appealing on the spot,” Besseberg told the court after the judge read out the 67-page verdict over the course of almost three hours.

“The defendant breached the trust that came with his position at the IBU by accepting the benefits,” judge Vidar Toftoy-Lohne at the Buskerud district court said.

The prosecution hailed the verdict.

“There is a lot of money in circulation in international elite sport. The federations manage substantial financial assets and make decisions that are important for both athletes and the business community,” prosecutor Marianne Djupesland said in a statement.

“We hope this verdict can contribute to raising awareness and that it will have a preventive effect,” she said.

Prosecutors had sought a jail term of three years and seven months and a fine of one million kroner ($95,000).

The court did not hand down a fine, but ordered Besseberg to return gifts amounting to 1.4 million kroner.

Besseberg admitted accepting gifts but dismissed the notion that corruption was involved.

“Even if I received expensive gifts and was invited by many to go hunting, I must stress that I never let myself be corrupted,” he told the court during his trial, media reported.

Russian shadow

As head of the IBU when the Russian doping scandal exploded in the 2010s, Besseberg was accused of initially hiding cases of Russian doping in his sport in exchange for favours.

Prosecutors dropped that line of attack, but in Norway, receiving improper favours, even if no services are provided in exchange, is enough to constitute corruption.

Russia’s shadow nonetheless hung heavily over the case.

According to an inquiry launched by Sweden’s Olle Dahlin, who succeeded Besseberg as head of the IBU, Besseberg pushed to hold the 2021 biathlon world championships in Tyumen, Siberia, despite the Russian doping scandals.

The contest was eventually awarded to Pokljuka in Slovenia.

Prosecutors argued that Besseberg went on fully paid hunting trips in Austria and in the Czech Republic, and for seven years drove a leased BMW X5, all paid for by Infront, a marketing company that held television rights to the sport.

They argued he was given three watches worth a total of more than 30,000 euros ($33,000), invited on trips to hunt deer and wild boar, and offered services from sex workers, all paid for by Russian officials.

Asked about an Omega watch worth more than 17,000 euros he received in 2011 for his 65th birthday, he said: “I did not think it was undeserved.”

The court said two of the three watches he received constituted corruption.

Besseberg also denied any contact with sex workers, acknowledging only what he said was a consensual affair with a 42-year-old Russian.

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