Karl Eirik Schjøtt-Pedersen

Karl Eirik Schjøtt-Pedersen
Auditor General of Norway
Assumed office
1 January 2022
Preceded byPer-Kristian Foss
Minister at the Office of the Prime Minister
In office
20 October 2009 – 16 October 2013
Prime MinisterJens Stoltenberg
Preceded byPosition established
Succeeded byVidar Helgesen
Chief of Staff at the Office of the Prime Minister
In office
1 December 2006 – 20 October 2009
Prime MinisterJens Stoltenberg
Minister of Finance
In office
17 March 2000 – 19 October 2001
Prime MinisterJens Stoltenberg
Preceded byGudmund Restad
Succeeded byPer-Kristian Foss
Minister of Fisheries
In office
25 October 1996 – 17 October 1997
Prime MinisterThorbjørn Jagland
Preceded byJan Henry T. Olsen
Succeeded byPeter Angelsen
Member of the Norwegian Parliament
In office
1 October 1985 – 30 September 2009
DeputyGunnar Mathisen
Einar Johansen
Alf E. Jakobsen
ConstituencyFinnmark
Personal details
Born (1959-10-03) 3 October 1959 (age 65)
Vardø, Finnmark, Norway
Political partyLabour
SpouseGrete Lorck
Children3

Karl Eirik Schjøtt-Pedersen (born 3 October 1959 in Vardø) is a Norwegian politician for the Labour Party. He is currently the Auditor General of Norway since 2022. He was a parliamentary representative for Finnmark from 1985 to 2009. He served as Minister of Fisheries from 1996 to 1997 and Minister of Finance from 2000 to 2001 in the first cabinet Stoltenberg. Pedersen was Chief of Staff at the Office of the Prime Minister and a member of the Cabinet from 2006 to 2013. From 2015 to 2020 he was the CEO at Norwegian Oil and Gas.

Family and education

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Schjøtt-Pedersen was born in Vardø in Finnmark in 1959, as the son of duty manager Odd Eirik Schjøtt Pedersen (1925–1993) and tax assessment secretary Aslaug Berntine Nilssen (1923–1981). He has a degree from a two-year course with a trade course from 1977, as well as a degree in art from 1978. He has a master's degree with political science, social economics and public law from the University of Oslo from 1985 and Master of Business Administration from Copenhagen Business School from 2015.

Career

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Parliament

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Schjøtt-Pedersen was a deputy member from 1981 to 1985, when he was elected a full time member. He was re-elected in 1989, and was so until 2009. While he was minister and part of government from 1996 to 1997, 2000 to 2001 and 2006 to 2013, his seat in Parliament was covered by deputies Gunnar Mathisen (1996–1997), Einar Johansen (2000–2001) and Alf E. Jakobsen (2006–2013).

Government

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Post politics

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In March 2015, he became chairman of the board of Sparebank 1 Nord-Norge.[1]

Two months later, in May 2015, he became the CEO of Norwegian Oil and Gas. He stepped down from the position in early January 2020, but remained in place until a successor was appointed. He stated that "everything has an end", and added that he thought it was time for someone new to take over. He was subsequently succeeded by Anniken Hauglie.[2][3]

In February 2020, he became a partner in the socio-economic analysis company Menon Economics.[4]

Auditor General of Norway

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In November 2021, he was nominated as the next Auditor General of Norway, succeeding retiring Per-Kristian Foss. He assumed office on 1 January 2022.[5]

Upon assuming office, Schjøtt-Pedersen took over the investigation into members of Parliament's economic schemes. He called it "an important mission" and called the trust in elected officials "determining for the whole democratic system". He went on to say: "It is unusual for a Office of the Auditor General to generally be commissioned to review matters of such significance to the elected representatives. It is also unusual for the Storting to impose such a review. The Office of the Auditor General does not usually go into individual cases, but we will do so now".[6]

In October, he presented a report into the Norwegian Army's information systems which determined that there were numerous vulnerabilities. Schjøtt-Pedersen also stated that the findings pinpoints serious concerns and consequences for national security.[7]

In December, he presented a report looking into the authorities control over waste which is exported from Norway. The report concludes that Norwegian authorities' handling of the issue is critic worthy, parts of the exporting is illegal and that control over waste is lacking.[8]

In April 2023, he presented another report into MPs economic schemes. The report determined that 61 MPs had not complied with the disclosure obligation - i.e. the rule that they must inform about other income while they are paid from the Storting so that this can be deducted. This also implies that they received to much severance pay.[9]

Personal life

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He is married to Grete Lorck, whom he met in Oslo in 1986. Together they have three children.[10][11]

References

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  1. ^ "Ny styreleder i SNN" (in Norwegian). iTromsø. 25 March 2015. Retrieved 8 January 2022.
  2. ^ "Karl Eirik Schjøtt-Pedersen ny sjef for Norsk olje og gass" (in Norwegian). Norwegian Oil and Gas. 26 March 2015. Retrieved 8 January 2022.
  3. ^ "Karl-Eirik Schjøtt-Pedersen går av som toppsjef i Norsk Olje og Gass" (in Norwegian). E24. 3 January 2020. Retrieved 8 January 2022.
  4. ^ "Nå har oljegeneralen fått ny jobb: - Veldig annerledes" (in Norwegian). Nettavisen. 28 January 2020. Retrieved 8 January 2022.
  5. ^ "Karl Eirik Schjøtt-Pedersen innstilt som ny riksrevisor" (in Norwegian). E24. 29 November 2021. Retrieved 7 January 2022.
  6. ^ "Ber Riksrevisjonen om hjelp: Vil ha full granskning av Stortinget" (in Norwegian). Aftenposten. 6 January 2022. Retrieved 8 January 2022.
  7. ^ "Riksrevisjonen: Svært alvorlige sårbarheter i Forsvarets informasjonssystemer" (in Norwegian). Dagens Næringsliv. 4 October 2022. Retrieved 4 October 2022.
  8. ^ "Riksrevisjonen: Norske myndigheter har ikke god nok kontroll på hvor avfallet havner" (in Norwegian). NRK. 8 December 2022. Retrieved 8 December 2022.
  9. ^ "Riksrevisjonen slakter Stortinget: − Slike feil skal ikke kunne skje" (in Norwegian). Verdens Gang. 27 April 2023. Retrieved 27 April 2023.
  10. ^ "- Han sender roser når han er på jobbreiser" (in Norwegian). Se og Hør. 27 April 2013. Retrieved 8 January 2022.
  11. ^ "Her er Schjøtt-Pedersen" (in Norwegian). Fagbladet. 30 November 2013. Retrieved 8 January 2022.
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