Arne Treholt
| Arne Treholt | |
|---|---|
Arne Treholt
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| Born | 13 December 1942 |
| Occupation | Businessman |
| Criminal penalty | 20 years imprisonment |
| Criminal status | Released in 1992 |
| Conviction(s) | Treason and espionage on behalf of the Soviet Union and Iraq |
Arne Treholt (born 13 December 1942) is a former Norwegian Labour Party politician and diplomat convicted of high treason and espionage on behalf of the Soviet Union and Iraq during the Cold War. Treholt's espionage is generally seen as the most serious spy case in the modern history of Norway. Arrested in 1984 and sentenced to 20 years in prison the following year, the Norwegian government pardoned him in 1992 after he had served over 8 years in a maximum security prison. After his release from prison, he settled in Russia and later in Cyprus, where he works as a businessman and consultant.
He was a member of the Norwegian Labour Party and also worked as a journalist for Arbeiderbladet. He was political secretary for the minister of commerce Jens Evensen before he became deputy foreign minister in the bureau of maritime affairs (1976–1978). From 1979 to 1982 he was connected to the Norwegian UN delegation in New York as an embassy counsellor. During the years 1982–1983 he studied at the Norwegian Joint Staff College. He was also department head of division for the Norwegian Ministry of Foreign Affairs' press from 1983.
Treholt was placed under surveillance by Norwegian counterintelligence services for several years of his career in the Norwegian Institute of International Affairs (NUPI) and the Norwegian ministry of foreign affairs. On 20 January 1984, he was arrested by Ørnulf Tofte, head of counter-intelligence, at Oslo Airport on his way to Vienna to meet with KGB officers.
The police conducted two searches of Treholt's apartment. In May 1982, they found 10,000 USD in a suitcase. In August 1983 they found 30,000 USD in the same suitcase. Treholt and his lawyer later alleged that Norwegian counterintelligence services produced this evidence themselves, and that the police and the judges conspired to cheat with the cash evidence, to make it appear as if the money came from the KGB. These allegations have been refuted as untrue. Furthermore, Treholt during the trial admitted to having received "expenses" from the KGB, but claimed that it could "only" have been 26,000 or 27,000 USD.
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