NCJ Number
155348
Journal
Crime, Law and Social Change Volume: 22 Issue: 4 Dated: (1994/95) Pages: 339-360
Date Published
1995
Length
22 pages
Annotation
The unprecedented municipal corruption scandals that occurred in Oslo in 1989-91 illustrate the contrasts and interrelationships between publicly perceived scandal and actual corruption.
Abstract
Anyone reading the Norwegian press in the years 1989-91 would have gotten the impression that corruption had become rampant in the administrative and political life of Oslo's city government. Open and direct incriminations abounded in the media. Stories about kickbacks and foul play in connection with public tendering appeared on front pages as indisputable facts, and a general term was coined to characterize the situation, "corruption culture." By the end of 1989, the atmosphere of "scandal" had become overwhelming. The conclusions of the various commissions on the "Oslo scandal" and the police investigation of the "corruption complex," however, showed the limited nature of the corruption. Findings reveal approximately 10 cases of clear- cut corruption among public employees of Oslo City, among some 36,000 employed in the city administration; they were all instances of individual corruption. A number of corruption attempts by private firms were identified through the police investigation. Most involved petty corruption. Some additional cases of mismanagement and irregularities in the administering of public funds were also exposed, showing in part of the City Administration a lack of efficient supervision. A limited number of instances of undeclared "conflict of interest" among the politicians were also revealed. There were veiled suggestions made by the governmental Commission of Inquiry that more complex forms of corruption may have occurred, which, due to their character, could not be disclosed. 27 notes and 15 references