– It is a family company that was built up and driven by my ancestors, a responsibility I have had for several years and I retain that ownership. But I am not part of the operation in Vestre, says Jan Christian Vestre to TV 2.
It has been a week since Vestre was appointed Minister of Trade and Industry in Prime Minister Jonas Gahr Støre’s Labor / SP government.
On Thursday, the board of the family company Vestre AS announced that the 35-year-old has now been replaced as general manager and board member of the company. But he will still own 70 percent of the shares in the company, which last year had a turnover of more than NOK 200 million.
The family in a new board
And the new board of the company still includes the Minister of Trade and Industry’s mother, Elisabeth Preus Vestre, and cousin, Kristoffer Strand Vestre.
– Because it’s a family business. The alternative would be to leave those shareholdings to others in the family, and then you will still be able to raise the same question. Therefore, I think it is neatest to continue as now, but the important point here is that I am not involved in the daily operations, I will not have anything to do with it. That is why the distance is so great that I do not see that it should be problematic, says Vestre.
Thus, Vestre chooses the opposite path of its boss, Jonas Gahr Støre, who last summer sold all his shares and mutual funds and placed all his assets in a bank account – to avoid more questions and problems related to the assets.
Received over 27 million in government grants
As Minister of Trade and Industry, Jan Christian Vestre is the chief executive of Innovation Norway, which in 2020 allocated Vestre and his company more than NOK 27 million in government support schemes.
– NEWLY APPOINTED: Jan Christian Vestre, here during the key handover in the Ministry of Trade and Fisheries. Photo: Fredrik Hagen
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Støre says he has made thorough assessments before Vestre was appointed Minister of Trade and Fisheries.
– We have assessed, with the help of the Prime Minister’s office, questions of impartiality and find that there are no questions to ask about it to become Minister of Trade and Industry. If there are issues on his agenda, as on the agenda of all other ministers, then we have the opportunity to have a so-called set minister for the decisions that are made, the prime minister says to TV 2.
Støre: Can be framed
– Why should Vestre not do the same as you?
– I am Prime Minister, and was a prime ministerial candidate. For me, it’s about a legacy of money. He is a part owner of a large industrial company. He can have that ownership share, and we clarify his interests so that he can carry out the job he has without it being in conflict with the interests that are to be given to a minister who is to do his job.
– But apart from the fact that he is a minister and you are a prime minister, what is the difference?
– For me, the difference was that I did not want to invest money in a way that could raise questions about the decisions I made as prime minister. That he has ownership in a company, which is a family business, we can frame that by the cases that should come close to exactly the business and the job he does, then another can step into that context. We have many examples of this, says Støre.
– NEW GOVERNMENT: The king appointed Prime Minister Jonas Gahr Støre’s government on Thursday 14 October, and here the government is photographed at Slottsplassen after the cabinet where they took office. Prime Minister Jonas Gahr Støre at the head of the new government consisting of Minister of Finance Trygve Magnus Slagsvold Vedum (Sp), Minister of Labor and Inclusion Hadia Tajik (Labor Party), Minister of Research and Higher Education Ola Borten Moe (Sp), Minister of Fisheries and Maritime Affairs Bjørnar Skjæran (Labor Party), Minister for Development Aid Anne Beathe Kristiansen Tvinnereim (Social Democrats), Minister for Climate and Environmental Protection Espen Barth Eide (Labor Party), Minister for Children and Families Kjersti Toppe (Social Democrats), Minister for Local Government Bjørn Aril Gram (Social Democrats), Minister for Transport Jon-Ivar Nygård (Labor Party) , Minister of Petroleum and Energy Marte Mjøs Persen (Labor Party), Minister of Culture and Gender Equality Anette Trettebergstuen (Labor Party), Minister of Trade and Industry Jan Christian Vestre (Labor Party), Minister of Education Tonje Brenna (Labor Party), Minister of Justice Emilie Enger Mehl (Social Democrats), Minister of Defense Odd Roger Enoksen ( Sp), Minister of Health and Care Services Ingvild Kjerkol (Labor Party), Minister of Agriculture and Food Sandra Borch (Social Democrats) and Foreign Minister Anniken Scharning Huitfeldt (Labor Party). Photo: Heiko Junge / NTB Photo: Heiko Junge
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