Norwegian diplomat steps down over Epstein ties, in widening scandal
Sign up now: Get ST's newsletters delivered to your inbox
Norway’s then ambassador Mona Juul addressing the UN Security Council in New York in 2022.
PHOTO: REUTERS
OSLO – Norway’s foreign ministry on Feb 8 said a prominent ambassador, Ms Mona Juul, would step down due to a “serious failure of judgment” over ties to late sex offender Jeffrey Epstein, part of a growing scandal in the Nordic country and across Europe.
The ministry earlier this week suspended Ms Juul from her position as ambassador to Jordan and Iraq pending an internal inquiry of links to Epstein found in a massive set of files released by the United States government.
“Juul’s contact with convicted sex offender Epstein has shown a serious failure of judgment. The case makes it difficult to rebuild the trust that the role requires,” Norway’s Foreign Minister Espen Barth Eide said in a statement.
Ms Juul, 66, a former junior government minister, previously represented Norway as ambassador to Israel, Britain and at the United Nations.
Key player in Israel-Palestinian Oslo Accords
In Britain, Prime Minister Keir Starmer’s chief of staff, Mr Morgan McSweeney, quit on Feb 8
A lawyer representing Ms Juul said she had voluntarily stepped down as the current situation made it impossible for her to carry out her work.
“Mona Juul will continue to cooperate fully with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs to help ensure that all relevant facts in the matter come to light,” her lawyer Thomas Skjelbred said in a statement.
The foreign ministry said it had also initiated a review of its former grants to the International Peace Institute (IPI), a New York think-tank headed by Ms Juul’s husband Terje Roed-Larsen until 2020.
Mr Roed-Larsen, 78, who briefly served as a Cabinet minister in 1996 under then Norwegian prime minister Thorbjoern Jagland, has several times apologised for his connection to Epstein.
“The National Audit Office has already investigated this several years ago, but Terje Roed-Larsen naturally has no objections to this being done again,” his lawyer John Christian Elden said in a statement.
IPI did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Ms Juul and Mr Roed-Larsen rose to prominence as part of a small group of diplomats facilitating the 1993-1995 Oslo Accords, seen at the time as a breakthrough in the conflict between Israel and the Palestinians, although peace remained elusive.
Several other prominent Norwegians also had links to Epstein, including Crown Princess Mette-Marit, who on Feb 6 apologised again in a statement
