AUF membership scandal

The AUF membership scandal refers to the police investigation and subsequent court case in Norway in early 1998 where four members of AUF stood accused of deliberately inflating membership numbers of their organization in order to receive increased government funding [ [http://tux1.aftenposten.no/nyheter/iriks/d28635.htm Alvorlig tiltale om grovt bedrageri] ] .

They were eventually found guilty of fraud and handed jail sentences. The unlawful practice of submitting higher membership numbers to city council offices had at the time become an accepted culture in various political youth organizations, and it is believed that the leadership of the parties involved were aware of this practice. Only four members were prosecuted and jailed, former members of the AUF, and by that stage leading politicians, were not charged. Among them were former prime minister Torbjørn Jagland and current prime minister of Norway Jens Stoltenberg.

Background

On March 2nd 1995, VG (a Norwegian tabloid newspaper) could reveal that the Oslo branch of the AUF had artificially inflated their membership numbers from 1992 to 1994 and as a result received 700 000 Nkr (approx 90 000 US$) more than they were entitled to. For each new member recruited the AUF received nearly 300 Nkr from the Oslo city council in government subsidies. The yearly membership fee was at the time 30 kroner. The scam was accomplished by transferring money from AUF's main bank account into AUF treasurer Bjørn Jarle Rødberg Larsen's private bank account, which he then transferred back into AUF’s account to pay for new memberships. By doing this AUF increased their membership numbers by 2300 between 92 and 94, netting the organization over 700 000 Nkr in fraudulently appropriated government funds.

Timeline

March 2nd 1995, Norwegian national newspaper VG publishes the story.

March 7nd 1995, the city of Oslo started investigating the Oslo branch of the AUF. Four days later, on March 11th, the leader of Oslo AUF Ragnar Bøe Elgaas submitted a report to the Oslo city council in which he admitted to bias in the numbers The AUF had given to the City council and that they had later received increased economic support.

In his report Elgaas referred to this practice as 'advancing' money to pay for membership fees for people whom the AUF had reason to believe wanted to become members, or renew their memberships with the party. He also resigned from his position as leader of the AUF that same day.

March 14th 1995, former leaders of the AUF, Jens Stoltenberg, at the time deputy leader of The Norwegian Labour Party, and Turid Birkeland, admitted that 'advancing' money to pay for membership fees was a common and an accepted practice at the time they had been with the organization.

March 16th 1995, the police started a formal criminal investigation of the Oslo branch of the AUF.

May 20th 1995, the Oslo city treasurer's office concluded that the Oslo branch of the AUF had wrongfully received 538 000 NOK in administration subsidies and 48 000 in seminar subsidies.

February 3rd 1996, Minister of transportation, Kjell Oppseth from The Norwegian Labour Party submitted a formal complaint to the police in which he accused 24 youth organisation of fraud.

The accusations were divided into four different subcategories, which meant that there was a statute of limitations close attached to some of the charges. This resulted in the acquittal of Torbjørn Jagland (then current leader of The Norwegian Labour Party and Jens Stoltenberg. This led to an angry outcry from the opposition parties on the Parliament house

February 16th 1996, several lawyers, among them juror Dr. Johs. Andenæs reacted strongly to what he saw as The Labour Party interference to try an exempt the AUF case from criminal investigation.

April 1st 1996, formal charges were made against AUF treasurer Røberg Larsen, former leader of the AUF, Bøe- Elgsaas, former AUF leader Anders Hornslien and former treasurer Anders Greif Mathisen.

October 29th 1996, The police dismissed the fraud charges against 22 youth organizations. [ [http://tux1.aftenposten.no/nyheter/iriks/d28329.htm Maraton-strid om penger og politikk] ]

The accused

Anders Hornslien stated in court that former leaders of AUF, Trond Giske and Turid Birkeland pressured Oslo AUF to keep up the artificially high membership numbers. He also stated that it was pride more than money that were the motivating factors for him. He also told the court that the Oslo branch of the AUF was contacted on a yearly basis by the central leadership of the AUF, if they (the central leadership) felt that the membership numbers were too low at the end of the year. He told the court that they were told by the leadership to shape up on those occasions.

Hornslien was eventually charged and convicted of inflating membership numbers and the unlawful appropriation of 200 000 NOK in subsidies. He struggled to convince the court that the main reason for paying 21 000 NOK in membership fees were to receive 210 000 NOK in government subsidies. [ [http://tux1.aftenposten.no/nyheter/iriks/d29411.htm Hornslien fra skanse til skanse] ]

Bjørn Jarle Rødberg Larsen told the court that the Oslo Labour Party pressured the Oslo branch of the AUF to maintain high membership numbers in order to maintain their strong influence within the AUF. He also told the court that the four accused members tried to keep the money advancements a secret because they all knew that this practice was illegal. He also admitted that the leadership of AUF in the years between 1992-94 conspired to inflate membership numbers in order to receive higher government subsidies.

He told the court that the leadership regularly paid membership fees for those members who didn't pay their fees. In 1993 they also decided to pay membership fees for people who had never expressed any desire to be members of the AUF.

He also admitted that the four of them met at Hornslien's parliament office to discuss the situation after VG broke the story.

Jens Stoltenberg's involvement in the case

On March 17th,1998, Jens Stoltenberg was called in to give testimony in the case. He told the Oslo city court, under oath, that he was unfamiliar with the artificial inflating of membership figures which took place in the AUF. He also told the court that he was unaware of any form of fraud taking place in the organisation under his leadership, and stated that he had never heard of 'advancing' money to pay for memberships until VG broke the story on March 2nd, 1995. He also stated that in his opinion it was not necessarily wrong to 'advance' money for members provided that the members in question reimbursed this fee later on. [ [http://www.dagbladet.no/nyheter/1998/03/18/71436.html Stoltenberg: staten godtok «juks»] ]

Stoltenberg was also cross-examined by defence lawyer Tor Erling Staff, who pointed out that membership numbers for the AUF during Stoltenbergs tenure, 11 000, were too high. According to Staff's calculations such a huge membership numbers would mean that the AUF had to recruit several thousand members each year. The following day, March,18, Jens Stoltenberg told the court that the government had accepted non-paying members in youth organizations as fulworthy members for many years, provided that the membership was confirmed by word of mouth by the member in question.

Discrepancies in Jens Stoltenberg’s testimony.

Jens Stoltenberg did change his story. On March 14th 1995, twelve days after VG published the story Stoltenberg and former leader of the AUF Turid Birkeland, admitted that 'advancing' money to pay for membership fees was a common and accepted practice at the time they were involved with the organisation.

Torbjørn Jagland's involvement in the case.

When Torbjørn Jagland gave evidence in the case he agreed with Jens Stoltenberg that it wasn't necessarily wrong to 'advance' money for memberships provided that the members in question reimbursed this fee later on. He did however tell the court that it was unacceptable to transfer money from AUF's main bank account to pay for membership fees.

He also agreed when pressed by the prosecutor that membership numbers were too high when he was the leader of the AUF. In his defense he stated that if the AUF were to follow the law too rigidly they would only have ended up with a quarter of the membership numbers that Unge Høyre (youth wing of the conservatives) operated with. He said that it would have been absurd to follow the law to the letter. [ [http://www.dagbladet.no/nyheter/1998/03/17/70965.html Jagland innrømmet medlems-triksing] ]

He also told the court that the AUF should have received even more subsidies, referring to some of the other political youth parties that used similar methods for calculating membership numbers.

Other former members involvement in the case.

Turid Birkeland and Øystein Mæland were on the AUF board when Jens Stoltenberg was AUF leader. Both of them admitted that there had been a culture of inflating membership numbers in the organization at the time. Jens Stoltenberg denied any knowledge of this

Former AUF leader Anniken Huitfeldt also admitted that membership numbers were too high. She told the court that the reason why AUF decided to keep up the practice of inflating these numbers during her leadership was to protect former members of the organization who had contributed to this inflation. She also admitted that she was taught how to 'advance' money for membership fees when she first joined the organization. [ [http://tux1.aftenposten.no/nyheter/iriks/d35301.htm Huitfeldt innrømmet oppblåste medlemstall] ]

Øystein Mæland eventually canceled his membership with The Labour Party because he felt that the four members sentenced for their involvement in the fraud were used as scapegoats.

The Verdict

*Bjørn Jarle Røberg-Larsen was sentenced to six months in jail.
*Ragnar Bøe Elgsaas, was sentenced to seven months in jail.
*Anders Greif Mathisen was sentenced to 90 days in jail.
*Anders Hornslien was sentenced to five months in jail. [ [http://www.dagbladet.no/nyheter/1998/04/22/84668.html Streng, men ryddig dom] ]

References