NSfK Seminar and Work Group on Nordic Corruption

NSfK Seminar and Work Group on Nordic Corruption met in Reykjavik 16-19 November 2011. The purpose of the meeting was to present, discuss and analyze a number of Nordic cases of local and regional corruption in public authorities.

The cases discussed at the meeting may be placed in two broad different categories of corruption: 1) “gift cases”, where the cases involves some kind of problematic gift, which may or may not be interpreted as a bribe, and 2) cases of breaches of power, where the cases involve some kind of fraudulent or otherwise problematic use of public funds. There were similarities as well as differences in the presented cases. In order to make comparisons easier between the different cases, several themes were used as a common framework in describing the various cases (though themes were not equally relevant in all of the cases):

• The modus operandi:  the actions/omissions in question
• Police investigation (if any)
• Charges and court cases (if any) and the results
• Gifts vs. bribes (problematic gift exchanges are a prominent feature in some of the cases)
• The role of media (did they dig up the case, were they just “followers” or did they cover the story at all?)
• The attitude of Government/politicians
• Other consequences of the case if any (for instance changed internal rules on the subject)
• The characteristics of the person/persons involved

Participants in the seminar: Joakim Thelander(Sweden), Johanna Peurala (Finland), Lars Bo Langsted (Denmark), Margret Sæmundsdottir (Iceland), Nubia Evertsson (Sweden), Per Ole Johansen (Norway), Snorri Örn Árnason (Iceland).