Norwegian police said Wednesday they are investigating two ex-prime ministers on suspicion of fraudulently receiving excessive pension payments. A parliamentary committee concluded in January that Gro Harlem Brundtland and Kjell Magne Bondevik, as well as four other former lawmakers, had unduly received 5.7 million kroner (655,000 euros, 847,000 dollars) in pension payments from parliament.
Following these conclusions, "there is reason to investigate whether punishable acts have occurred," the police said in a statement. "The suspicion is fraud," Elisabeth Roscher, a lawyer with the economic crimes unit, told TV2 News. Fraud convictions in Norway carry a sentence of up to six years in prison.
Brundtland, Norway's first and only woman prime minister who headed three Labour governments in the 1980s and 1990s, and Bondevik, a Christian Democrat who headed two governments between 1997 and 2000 and again from 2001 to 2005, have in the past said they contacted parliament themselves regarding the issue.
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