It appears from e-mail correspondence Dagbladet has been given access to via the Ministry of Children and Family Affairs’ mailing list.
Dagbladet revealed this week that former Prime Minister Kjell Magne Bondevik (KrF) and his organization Oslosenteret have received just over NOK 3.2 million from what experts believe is a regime-affiliated organization, the Muslim World League (MWL) in Saudi Arabia. The money was distributed via the Dialogue For Peace Foundation, which is run by the prominent Conservative politician Aamir J. Sheikh.
Just over two weeks after the transfer, Bondevik made sure that the leader of the Muslim World League would meet the Minister of Religion and KrF leader Kjell Ingolf Ropstad in person, Dagbladet can now reveal.
– Was your network and your opportunity to contact ministers one of the reasons why you received money from MWL, we ask Bondevik.
– No, I do not receive money from MWL, says Bondevik, and points out that his fee comes from the Dialogue For Peace Foundation.
Ties Bondevik partner to Saudi Arabia
Subject to the regime
Both Bondevik and Aamir Sheikh say that the Muslim World League is an independent, international organization that is not funded by Saudi Arabia.
They refer to the leader of the Muslim World League, Dr. Mohammad Al-Issa, who says that the organization has not been supported by Saudi Arabia or other countries in the last five years.
International experts are on the other hand, clear that the Muslim World League is strongly affiliated with, and funded by, the Saudi state.
“The regime always needs legitimacy, and MWL helps to give them this,” Reinhard Schulze – professor emeritus at the University of Bern – told Dagbladet, adding:
– Muslim World League (MWL) claims to be independent of the Saudi government. The fact is, however, that MWL acts as a semi-official wing of Saudi Arabia within religious policy. MWL’s top management is largely all under the regime, which also finances operations to a significant degree. This means that there is also political cooperation.
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Minister for Children and Families Kjell Ingolf Ropstad accepted Kjell Magne Bondevik’s request.
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It was on January 20 this year that the Muslim organization Muslim World League transferred just over 4.1 million kroner to Aamir J. Sheikh’s Foundation Dialogue for Peace. It shows documents Dagbladet has gained access to.
The next day, ie 21 January, the foundation then transferred 2.75 million to the Oslo Center – and just over half a million to Bondevik privately.
Contacted Ropstad directly
About two weeks after the money transfers, Thursday 4 February, Dagbladet itself observed that Bondevik walked into the Saudi Arabian embassy in Oslo. He tells Dagbladet that it was a courtesy visit to the new female ambassador.
A few days later, on February 8, Bondevik sent the e-mail to the Ministry of Children and Family Affairs about Ropstad’s participation in a religious conference in Oslo.
The program states that the conference was a collaboration between the Muslim World League and the Aamir J. Sheikhs Foundation Dialogue For Peace. The main speakers were Muslim World League leader Mohammad al-Issa and Minister Kjell Ingolf Ropstad.
KrF-nestor Bondevik writes to the ministry that he has already talked to his party colleague Ropstad, and received confirmation that the minister would come to the conference and speak:
‘I’ve talked to him about it. He is willing to say yes, with reservations. It is the intergovernmental conference day, but this does not begin until 5 pm. The most important thing is that he comes by “, Bondevik writes in the e-mail to the Ministry of Children and Family Affairs.
In other words, it was only after the Minister had confirmed his participation to Bondevik that Bondevik sent the e-mail which was logged in the ministry’s postal journal.
Desired meeting
– It is not unnatural that Bondevik, who is affiliated with the Oslo Center for Peace and Human Rights, has contacted me as Minister of Religion on topics such as interreligious dialogue, religious freedom and human rights, Ropstad writes to Dagbladet, via communications manager Line Torvik in the Ministry of Children and Family Affairs.
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Bondevik writes in an e-mail to Dagbladet that it was Muslim World League leader al-Issa who wanted a meeting with Ropstad.
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– Ropstad had met al-Issa earlier (2019) – without me being there – and al-Issa would like to meet Norway’s Minister of Religion again, Bondevik writes in an e-mail.
Bondevik confirms, however, that the meeting in 2019 was also set up by him and Aamir Sheikh, even though Bondevik himself was not present.
– Why did you contact Ropstad yourself first, before you formally contacted the ministry?
– It happens several times that I orally or via text message probe with politicians if they can attend meetings before I take a formal contract, Bondevik writes to Dagbladet.
– The experts say that getting money from MWL is getting money from the Saudi regime. What do you think about it?
– What I have received in fees I have received from the Foundation “Dialogue for Peace” and I feel no connection at all to the Saudi regime.
– Did you inform Ropstad that you had received money from MWL?
– Irrelevant question. I have not received money from MWL, but from the Dialogue for Peace Foundation, Bondevik answers.
However, he has admitted in an interview with Dagbladet that he was aware that Dialog for peace received money from MWL.
“Dear Kjell Ingolf”
Gardermoen 20181102. Kjell Magne Bondevik (left) and Kjell Ingolf Ropstad at KrF’s extraordinary national meeting at Gardermoen. Photo: Vidar Ruud / NTB
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This was not the first time Kjell Magne Bondevik made sure that Minister of Religion and party colleague Kjell Ingolf Ropstad got in touch with the leader of the Muslim World League.
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Also on November 7, 2019, Bondevik wrote an e-mail to the Ministry of Children and Family Affairs, which opened with “Dear Kjell Ingolf”. There he told that Secretary-General Al-Issa was going to Norway on November 19-22 of the same year.
– Attached his CV and sketch for program. He wants to have a meeting with you, probably in your role as “minister of religion”, Bondevik wrote and suggested possible times.
He also wanted the minister to attend a seminar emphasizing the importance of interfaith dialogue, and requested that answers be sent to Aamir Sheikh of the Dialogue for Peace Foundation. Bondevik himself signed with «Working chairman of the Oslo Center».
This time too, Ropstad agreed to the request.
Do not remember
Dagbladet has asked Ropstad several questions about how he was contacted by Bondevik in February 2021, and about whether Bondevik stated that he and the Oslo Center had received money from the Muslim World League, via the Dialogue For Peace Foundation.
Ropstad chooses to respond with a statement, conveyed through communications manager Line Torvik in the Ministry of Children and Family Affairs.
– I do not remember the content of the telephone conversation with Bondevik. I have previously agreed to a meeting with the Secretary-General of the Muslim World League, Al-Issa. Then I raised the importance of human rights must form the basis of all religious policy, Ropstad writes and continues:
– I also agreed to speak at a religious conference to talk about freedom of religion and human rights. But was prevented from participating.
The questions about what he thinks about Bondevik having contacted him twice on behalf of MWL, and whether he feels used, Ropstad does not answer directly.
Dagbladet also asks Kjell Magne Bondevik how the meeting in 2019 came about.
– Aamir Sheikh conveyed to me a question from al-Issa about a meeting with “Minister of Religion” Ropstad, which I followed up.
Bondevik says he was not paid to mediate contact between al-Issa and Ropstad in 2019.
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