– The few purchases and sales that were made during this period I tried to do in accordance with the handbook for political management, says Solberg’s spouse, Sindre Finnes.
STOCK TRADERS: Sindre Finnes has invested large sums in several companies on Oslo Børs. Photo: Helge Mikalsen / VG / NTBPublished: Published:
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While Erna Solberg (H) was prime minister, her spouse, Sindre Finnes, owned, bought and sold shares in several large listed companies.
Among the around 20 companies Finnes owned or traded shares in were the salmon giant Mowi and the weapons and technology company Kongsberg Gruppen.
The shareholder register also shows that he traded shares in the bomb chip company Q-Free, the shipping company Wallenius Wilhelmsen, the dry cargo shipping company Western Bulk.
During Solberg’s two terms as prime minister, Finnes also bought more and more shares in the aluminum giant Hydro:
At the end of 2014, he had 1,660 shares in Hydro, at the time worth just over NOK 70,000. At the end of 2021, a few months after the Solberg government resigned, Finnes held 6,000 Hydro shares worth NOK 417,000.
The state is the largest owner in Hydro.
Most of the companies Finne owns shares in are listed on the stock exchange or were at the time he owned shares in the company. Some of the share deals have been discussed previously.
Found: Had to reduce activity
– When Erna became Prime Minister in 2013, I had, by agreement with Erna, a discussion directly with the then government adviser Nina Frisak and her colleagues in the civil service at the Prime Minister’s office about my shares. I then sold shares in several companies, and informed the office about which shares I kept, says Finnes to E24.
Finnes explains that he “had to reduce” his activity in the stock market “significantly” during the time Solberg was prime minister.
Nevertheless, in 2014 he had shares in 14 companies, in 2015 he owned shares in 13 companies, while in 2016 he had shares in 16 companies.
In 2017, including after a Dagbladet articlehe sold out of the bomb chip company Q-Free and several other companies, and was left with shares in seven companies.
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Shows to Solberg
The following year, in 2018, he bought, among other things, several shares in Hydro – a company he owned throughout Solberg’s government period. And he also made purchases and sales until she stepped down as Prime Minister.
– The few – compared to the time before and after she was prime minister – purchases and sales that were made during this period, I tried to do according to the handbook for political management, says Finnes.
Finnes does not answer E24’s question about whether Solberg ever shared inside information about the companies he owned.
– You have asked me a number of questions which are really about Erna and her competence. It is not right for me to answer these, and I must therefore ask you to contact her about this, says Finnes.
See the list of Finnes’ shares at the bottom of the case.
These are the questions E24 has asked Sindre Finnes:
Did you inform Solberg about your shares, purchases and sales? Do you remember if Solberg reported this to the Cabinet at the time? Were there ever any questions about Solberg’s competence in matters concerning the companies in which you owned shares? Did she ever have to declare herself disqualified as a result of your share dealings? Did Solberg share what could be classified as inside information about the companies you owned shares in? How did you deal with the requirement for due diligence in the handbook for political management when you traded these shares? Solberg has previously told E24 that throughout her government period she operated with the freeze or sell rule for her ministers. How did she approach your share ownership in this regard? Show more
Strict rules for spouses
Under Solberg’s government, both ministers, state secretaries and political advisers had a duty to report to their ministry if they owned, bought or sold shares.
Regarding share trading by close associates, the following was stated in the handbook for political management, throughout Solberg’s period of government:
“Trading in financial instruments or entering into customer relationships by the employee’s spouse/registered partner/cohabitant can, depending on the circumstances, be equated with dispositions made by the employee himself. It will be up to the individual employee whether they want to give notice as mentioned above in such cases”.
So in this case it was up to Solberg even if she wanted to inform the Prime Minister’s office about Finne’s share purchases and sales.
On Wednesday, Foreign Minister Anniken Huitfeldt (Ap) admitted that there was reason to believe that she has been incompetent in several cases as a result of her husband’s share trading on Oslo Børs.
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Høyre’s press manager: Not familiar with competency cases
E24 has also asked Solberg questions about Finnes’ share dealings during the years she was prime minister. Solberg has not responded, but E24 has received a response from Solberg’s adviser and press manager in the Conservative Party, Cato Husabø Fossen.
– How did Solberg, in his role as prime minister, relate to the due diligence requirement in connection with Sindre Finne’s share trading?
– When Erna took office as Prime Minister in 2013, Sindre Finnes had a separate meeting with the civil service at the Prime Minister’s office where he was briefed on this. The purpose was, among other things, that the office should be able to assist with assessments of Erna Solberg’s competence.
– Was Solberg informed about Finnes’ shareholdings?
– Yes. She has been well aware that he owns shares. When she took office, she was concerned that he should have a dialogue with the civil service in the Prime Minister’s office about these issues, so that they could both provide information on the regulations and assist in assessing her competence.
HAND IN HAND: Erna Solberg has been well aware that her spouse, Sindre Finnes, owns shares, says Høyre’s press manager. Photo: Klaudia Lech / VG / NTB
– Was the Cabinet Minister informed about Finnes’ share dealings at the time?
– Both upon taking office in 2013 and later, Sindre Finnes informed the civil service at the Prime Minister’s office about which shares he owned. When later on one occasion he was in doubt as to whether he could make a concrete purchase, he asked them for advice.
– Were there ever any questions about Solberg’s competence in various matters concerning the companies Finne owned shares in?
– During Erna Solberg’s time as Prime Minister, she declared herself incompetent in several different cases. This applied, for example, to matters affecting Marine Harvest (now Mowi, journ.anm.), because her sister worked in the management of that company. We are not aware of any cases where she was disqualified due to Sindre Finne’s share ownership.
Solberg has previously told E24 that she eventually practiced a rule where the ministers in her government were given the choice to freeze or sell their share holdings.
– How did she react to her spouse’s share ownership?
– Erna Solberg’s husband was not a member of the government and did not have access to internal government information. Such a rule for him would therefore be unnatural. The consideration of trust in decisions that she, as prime minister, helped to make, and the possibility that her office would be able to assist with assessments of her competence, nevertheless dictated that Sindre limited her activity in the stock market and followed the requirements for care, during the years she was prime minister.
Was warned by the Council of Europe
In the autumn of 2014, questions were raised about the lack of transparency surrounding the shares of ministers’ spouses or cohabitants.
Finnes refused to tell at the time NRK about their equity investments.
Because while ministers have a duty – then, as now – to disclose their shares to the Storting’s publicly accessible register, their close relatives do not have the same duty.
This warned Council of Europe about in an anti-corruption report which was prepared for the Storting in 2014, and it was thought that consideration should also be given to including the share investments of spouses and cohabitants in the Storting’s register.
At the time, the Presidency of the Storting considered the recommendations from the Council of Europe for greater transparency and clarity in the Storting’s register. Spouses’ and cohabitants’ share investments are still not included in the Storting’s register.
The register is still deficient, and there are gaps in the regulations, shows a review carried out by E24.
2023-08-31 18:52:24
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