A divisional director in Forsvarsmateriell was, together with two others, arrested at various locations in Eastern Norway on Thursday morning. They are suspected of manipulation of the prices for consultancy services and of breaches of procurement regulations. The three are charged with gross breach of trust (grovt økonomisk utroskap), writes VG, which was first with the story and had images from the arrest.

They are charged with having increased the hourly rate for consultancy services by 35 per cent, writes VG. If so, it sounds as though kickbacks may be involved.

One of those arrested operates a consultancy firm which last year had an income of NOK 4.1 million.

The company states its purpose as providing, inter alia, consultancy services within management, strategy and operations.

In other words, business is being conducted within the business.

The head of Økokrim, Pål Lønseth, states that there is every reason to be alert to the risk of insiders helping themselves from the load.

VG revealed this winter that the Armed Forces were in the process of awarding a contract worth NOK 100 million for the procurement of gas masks for Ukraine. In testing, it was shown that a mask from Biltema costing NOK 100 did the job and was in fact better. The contract was cancelled. The company has threatened to bring legal proceedings.

At the weekend, VG received the SKUP Award for the case.