Can Hadia Tajik continue as Minister of Labor? Then she must give the LO leaders and the trade union movement more precise answers to the critical questions about the commuter housing.
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The political future of the party’s deputy leader and minister Hadia Tajik, recently named the country’s most powerful woman by the magazine Kapital, is at stake this week.
– We do not want to comment on what has been discussed in the central board, but are happy that Hadia Tajik sees the seriousness of the matter. LO leader Peggy Hessen Følsvik tells Aftenposten.
She emphasizes that the questions surrounding Tajik’s commuter housing “are an issue that we have received a lot of feedback on from our members and shop stewards”.
From sources with insight into the process that is now taking place in Aps and LO’s headquarters on Youngstorget, Aftenposten learns that the LO leaders are not happy with Tajik’s response so far.
It is first and foremost about why she delivered a lease to the Prime Minister’s Office (SMK) for a home she never used. The agreement led to her receiving a tax exemption for three years. In addition, it is a matter of her never correcting the incorrect information about the living conditions to SMK.
She has also not provided proof that she has paid rent expenses with her parents. Several LO members also dislike the fact that Tajik has criticized another case in Aftenposten as a “press scandal” at the same time as she has largely refused to answer questions. Tajik has communicated via Facebook where she avoids critical follow-up questions.
– In this type of case, it is important to have full transparency about what has happened. The further handling now belongs to the Labor Party’s leadership, says the LO leader.
This means that it is party leader Jonas Gahr Støre and party secretary Kjersti Stenseng who will handle the case further. It seems clear that Støre and Tajik must at some point present a conclusion on the case. And that the LO leaders will then decide whether they still trust Tajik.
In a sensational proposal in VG ahead of Monday’s central board meeting in the Labor Party, LO leader Peggy Hessen Følsvik, trade union leader Mette Nord and Fellesforbundet leader Jørn Eggum demanded more precise answers from Tajik.
–The three also sit on Ap’s central board. And when the three publicly make demands together, the whole labor movement listens. And then the Labor leader and Prime Minister Jonas Gahr Støre has nothing else to do but ensure that the demand is met.
According to Aftenposten, the three have discussed the matter continuously since VG last Sunday revealed the disorderly conditions around Tajik’s commuter housing all the way back to 2006. The three are also completely in agreement in the demand for a quick and more complete clean-up than Tajik himself has contributed to so. far.
It’s about political trust
The case is criminally obsolete. But the question of political trust has no statute of limitations. And a Labor deputy leader who manages labor and inclusion ministries must simply have full confidence in the LO leadership.
LO is very pleased with the political work Tajik has done as a minister. But they do not accept that she does not answer several unanswered questions about the commuter home. The case is on Monday night.
Prime Minister Støre did not respond to Aftenposten’s inquiries on Monday night. Tajik writes in a reply to Aftenposten that she has “always been concerned with being proper and honest”.
– I take it that questions are asked about what I have done and not. There is no doubt that I have made misjudgments in the past. When I did not use the lease I had entered into in 2006, I should have given quick notice to my employer so that they knew that I was living with my parents and helping to cover living expenses there.
– If I had done it then, everything would have been much easier today. I’m sorry for that, but I understand that the questions also come. It was useful to get the central board informed today, writes Tajik.
She does not say anything about when she will come up with new answers, and whether she can document the expenses well enough for the criticism to subside.
Tajik responded on Facebook
The LO leaders fear that the impression is created that a Labor minister will escape more easily than an ordinary citizen would do. It took six weeks before she answered VG’s questions.
The seriousness is exacerbated by the fact that Tajik is responsible for Nav. The agency is known, and for some infamous, for demanding detailed and accurate information. And Nav does not look with mild eyes at users who have given incorrect information, blame that they were young or no longer remember the details.
Tajik’s explanation for the mistake has been that she was only 23 years old at the time, that she does not remember all the details 16 years back in time and also does not collect the bills from that time.
On his own Facebook page, Tajik wrote a few days ago:
“I have a desire to always be accountable in my political work. When I can not meet my own requirements, I want to clean it up. I therefore pay extra tax for the years 2006–2010. “
The question is what she means by “extra tax” since she has not paid tax for the benefit of free commuter housing for three years.
- Is it an acknowledgment that the lease was fictitious? In this case, there may be talk of forgery even if the case is now obsolete.
- Is it an acknowledgment that she has not paid expenses to her parents
as she has stated? - And when she is today willing to pay a six-figure amount in arrears tax – why has she not cleaned up a long time ago?
Complicated
The case is complicated and starts all the way back in 2006. At that time, the 23-year-old Hadia Tajik was appointed political adviser to the then Minister of Labor Bjarne Håkon Hanssen.
Tajik received tax-free commuter housing, after delivering a lease she never used, as proof that she had housing expenses.
The lease is signed by Tajik and dated November 30, 2006.
Nevertheless, in the first application to SMK dated the next day, December 1, she had checked that she “not” had housing expenses at the place of residence.
Although Tajik never lived in the apartment she used to document the housing costs of the Prime Minister’s office, she says she was still entitled to tax-free commuter housing.
This is because she states that she contributed financially to her parents, and thus still had housing expenses in Rogaland. However, Tajik has so far not documented these expenses.
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