A specialist team from Okokrim, the Norwegian white-collar crime unit, stormed into the headquarters of DnB NOR and arrested two employees on charges of securities violations. Norway’s largest bank itself was also charged with the same violations and will now face a criminal investigation.
The raid on DnB NOR happened at their main offices in the Aker Brygge complex in Oslo. The action by authorities came a week after allegations were aired claiming that DnB NOR was engaged in insider trading. The bank is charged with illegally using advance knowledge of the Norwegian government’s plan to boost liquidity in the nation’s banking sector to help ease the economic crisis.
The newspaper Aftenposten reported that DnB NOR sold government bonds just days before the plan was unveiled to the public on 12 October. After the plan was publicly announced, the value of the bonds dropped. A deeper investigation is now underway by the white-collar crimes division Okokrim into other bank employees and their possible involvement in the scandal.
The two men presently charged with insider trading are Jorn Erik Pedersen and Olav Magne Reinen, senior members of the bank. Both men represented DnB NOK at a meeting with Norway’s central bank on 9 October. The bonds in question were sold that same day and the next, strongly suggesting that the two men abused the information they were given from that high-level meeting. Both men, however, claim to be innocent.
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