Every day there are new revelations about various sensitive stock trades. At the end of July, Education Minister Ola Borten Moe resigned after the revelation that he had bought shares in the Norwegian arms group Kongsberg at the same time as the government had placed large arms orders.
At the end of August, it was revealed that Foreign Minister Anniken Huitfeldt's husband had made over 100 share transactions during his wife's time as minister. He, too, bought gun stocks. According to Huitfeldt, she did not know about her husband's affairs.
Erna Solberg's husband did thousands of business
Last week it was the turn of Höyre leader and former Prime Minister Erna Solberg. Her husband Sindre Finnes was forced to produce a list of all his share purchases he made during her time as prime minister. There were a total of 3,600 trades. Many of them were sensitive – among other things, he sold a large number of shares on the same day his wife decided to shut down Norway in connection with the corona pandemic.
On Friday, September 15, a shaken Erna Solberg said at a press conference that she did not know the extent of her husband's share purchase and that confidence in him was damaged.
Robert Næss believes that the share purchases are problematic in several ways, in addition to the fact that the Prime Minister has been disqualified in several decisions.
"This has been like a bomb. When you start digging into it, there are several transactions that look suspicious. Then you can ask – did he have inside information, could he have done insider trading? It can also just be luck or bad luck. But with so many transactions, a lot of things look strange," says Robert Næss.
"Probably another prime minister in 2025"
According to Robert Næss, a large shadow falls over Erna Solberg.
"You can't have a person in the prime minister's residence who tried to make money from the stock market going down when Erna Solbeg shut down Norway due to covid. Even if she were to leave him, there is a big discussion about the extent to which she knew about these affairs. It is probably likely that someone else will become prime minister in 2025 instead of her, he says.