Jo Lunder has said he will remain on leave from his position as head of the Fredriksen Group while a corruption investigation continues into his role at telecoms company Vimpelcom.
Lunder, who came out of custody yesterday having been held for five days in an Oslo jail, was speaking at a press conference in which he stressed he was innocent of all allegations against him. The head of John Fredriksen’s diverse maritime holdings was arrested by police in Norway late last Wednesday night and charged with corruption
Norwegian, Dutch, Swiss and US police are investigating Vimpelcom over payments made in connection to its operations in Uzbekistan.
Lunder resigned from VimpelCom in March this year, having been its chief executive since 2011. At the time, VimpelCom said that the resignation was “entirely independent of the corruption investigation” of the company. According to the press release that announced his resignation, Lunder was to act as a consultant to VimpelCom over a transitional period until July 13 this year.
In May, Lunder was appointed head of the Fredriksen Group, which manages John Fredriksen’s interests in his group companies Frontline, Seadrill, Golden Ocean, fish farm company Marine Harvest and other firms.
