Per Ditlev-Simonsen

Infobox Officeholder


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honorific-prefix =
name =Per Ditlev-Simonsen
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order =
office =Mayor of Oslo
term_start =1995
term_end =2007
vicepresident =
viceprimeminister =
deputy =Svenn Kristiansen
lieutenant =
monarch =
president =
primeminister =
governor =
governor-general =
governor_general =
succeeding =
predecessor =
successor =Svenn Kristiansen
constituency =
majority =
office2 = Minister of Defence
term_start2 = 1989
term_end2 = 1990
predecessor2 = Johan Jørgen Holst
successor2 = Johan Jørgen Holst
monarch2 = Olav V
primeminister2 = Jan P. Syse
constituency_MP3 = Oslo
parliament3 = Norwegian
majority3 =
term_start3 = 1981
term_end3 = 1985
predecessor3 =
successor3 =
birth_date =Birth date and age|1932|6|12|df=y
birth_place =
death_date =
death_place =
nationality =Norway
party =Conservative Party
spouse =
relations =
children =Cecilie Ditlev-Simonsen
residence =Oslo
alma_mater =Stanford University
occupation =Shipping magnate
profession =
religion =


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Per Ditlev-Simonsen (born 12 June 1932) is a Norwegian politician. He was the mayor of Oslo, representing the Conservative Party, from 1995 to 2007. He stepped down on 23 August 2007 following the Swiss bank-account scandal.

Ditlev-Simonsen was an officer of the The Norwegian Royal Guards, and he later attended Stanford University getting a Master of Arts degree. After college, Ditlev-Simonsen became a partner in his father's shipping company Sverre Ditlev-Simonsen & Co (SDS) in 1955. He was a partner in the company until 1995.

Ditlev-Simonsen was a Member of Parliament from 1981 to 1985, serving in the Standing Committee of Finance. From 1989 to 1990 Ditlev-Simonsen was Minister of Defense in the Cabinet of Jan P. Syse.

wiss bank account tax probe

In August 2007, the presence of a hitherto unknown Swiss bank account was revealed. The revelation came after an acrimonious divorce involving his daughter, Cecilie Ditlev-Simonsen, the communications director of Norsk Hydro. [cite web |url=http://www.aftenposten.no/english/local/article1943016.ece |title=Mayor caught in tax probe |date=August 17, 2007 |author=Aftenposten] The account, which contained NOK 1.5 million had been inherited by Ditlev-Simonsen after his wife died in 1990, and he eventually admitted to not having paid the Norwegian wealth tax on it. [>cite web |url=http://www.aftenposten.no/english/local/article1947969.ece |title=Mayor sorry but won’t resign |author=Aftenposten |date=August 20, 2007]

The revelation caused several opposition politicians to call for Ditlev-Simonsen's resignation. Erna Solberg, the head of the Conservative Party, asked that Ditlev-Simonsen refrain from active campaigning for his party ahead of the local elections scheduled for 10 September. Even if he had not resigned, the 75 year old Ditlev-Simonsen was set to retire after the election. [>cite web |url=http://www.aftenposten.no/english/local/article1947232.ece |title=Oslo's mayor faces resignation demands |author=Aftenposten |date=August 20, 2007] The incident was believed to be a cause of the Conservative's 4 percent drop in opinion polls, three weeks ahead of the election. [>cite web |url=http://www.aftenposten.no/english/local/article1951245.ece |title=Voters abandon Conservatives |author=Aftenposten |date=August 22, 2007]

References

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