Fampo, 19.10.23
The following is a translation of an article by Krimnett
Anette Trettebergstuen had to resign on 23 June this year as a result of a breach of the Public Administration Act’s disqualification rules.
Odin Adelsten Bohmann assisted with offences, and covered up Trettebergstuen’s disqualification in the ministry.
While some receive a lot of critical attention from the media, others receive little. Bohmann has been lucky with the media on the way into the election campaign as a candidate for mayor.
The offense and Trettebergstuen’s disqualification were originally covered up with the help of state secretary Odin Adelstehn Bohmann.
Bohmann assisted in hiding Trettebergstuen’s involvement and deliberately tried to circumvent the Public Administration Act.
Close friends of politicians can be appointed – as long as the politician does not participate
The state owns, finances or otherwise looks after a number of organisations.
Therefore, the state is allowed to select people for the organisations’ boards.
The state can basically legally give close friends of politicians paid positions.
The politician simply cannot contribute to the decision – the name and treatment must come from someone else.
Such a close friendship makes the politician incompetent.
Norsk Folkemuseum -The Norwegian Folk Museum – asked for proposals for paid positions
when Minister of Culture and Equality, Anette Trettebergstuen was the highest leader of the Ministry of Culture and Equality.
While the leadership in the ministry are politicians and politically appointed, almost everyone in the ministry is ordinary civil servants, also called the “civil service”.
“The politicians in political leadership are replaced when there is a change of government. The civil service, on the other hand, continues to work for the politicians in the new government, who often come from another political party.”
Cited from Store Norske Leksikon
These must be loyal to the current political leadership.
The civil service learned that the Norwegian Folk Museum needed a person for a paid position. They therefore contacted political leadership and asked for proposals for candidates.
23 March 2023: The specialist department informed PL in a management meeting that board member Terje Breivik wanted to be replaced as board representative, and asked if PL had suggestions for candidates. (Source: Regjeringen.no)
What then happened is described in an account on Regjeringen.no (the Government’s website).
“23 March 2023: In a discussion in the political leadership, the minister proposed Bård Nylund. A state secretary raised the question of whether the appointment was possible given the friendship. The minister replied that she would register as ineligible and that the state secretary could propose the name of the department in KUD.”
Anette Trettebergstuen told Bohmann that she wanted the position to be given to her close friend Bård Nylund.
Bohmann knew that Trettebergstuen was incompetent, and debated this with Trettebergstuen.
She replied that he could suggest Nylund instead of her. The incompetence would then be less visible.
Bohmann circumvented the law – covered up Trettebergstuen’s incompetence
Odin Adelsten Bohmann was well aware that, according to the law, Trettebergstuen could not propose Nylund.
When he did it himself, he knew that it was a way to circumvent the law, to hide something that would mean incompetence if it became known.
27 March 2023: E-mail from State Secretary Bohmann to the department with a proposal for Bård Nylund as a replacement for Breivik. (The government’s website)
Bohmann put civil servants in a very difficult situation
The civil service probably knew of Trettebergstuen’s friendship with Nylund, as the two have, among other things, published a book together. At the same time, they knew that the proposer Bohmann was Trettebergstuen’s state secretary and a close associate.
Should the civil service accuse Trettebergstuen of being the one who was really behind the proposal?
Should they attack their own leadership, refuse to comply with the wish?
Report the top manager and hope for an investigation?
What ordinary civil servant would bear and dare to put himself in the eye of the storm like that?
The civil service was put in a difficult situation. The order was fulfilled, and Nylund was appointed.
Bohmann’s cover-up apparently worked—for a while
If the input had come from Trettebergstuen itself, it would probably have been stopped.
Bohmann’s cover-up worked. Nylund was appointed in mid-April.
Two months later, both the Nylund case and several others broke in the media. It is unclear exactly what led to what – whether the Nylund case gave rise to a general investigation, or was discovered afterwards in another case.
Due to the offense and the investigation that discovered this, the appointment of Bård Nylund was found to be invalid and the office was forfeited:
“- A decision to appoint a person to a board where the minister is incompetent will not be a valid decision according to the Public Administration Act”
Secretary General Kristin Berge to the newspaper VG
Lucky with the media coverage in the mayoral campaign
While some who are involved in offenses receive strong critical focus from the media, others receive little or nothing.
Bohmann is running for election to become mayor of the Labor Party in Skien. He has been very lucky with the media coverage of this case.
If you search for Odin Adelsten Bohmann in the biggest media in Norway, you will hardly find a critical glance. The mention of a woman employed in the Foreign Ministry who expressed herself harshly, but ferfectly legally, is far more extensive and critical than against Bohmann.
On the contrary, Bohmann is portrayed in several places as having fulfilled his own wish and choice when he steps down as secretary of state:
“Does not want a new round as State Secretary … he no longer wants to be State Secretary … he does not want a new round as State Secretary … does not want to continue.”
Krimnett takes fact-checking seriously, and has a bug bounty scheme with monetary rewards for reporting factual errors.
Fampo 