Norway’s Espen Teigen Accepts Sentence, Vows Not to Appeal
In a surprising turn of events, Espen Teigen, a former advisor to Sylvi Listhaug, has announced that he will not appeal his recent conviction. The news was first reported by Adresseavisen.
Teigen was found guilty of securing an unfair advantage by having staff at the Office of the Prime Minister (SMK) allocate him a free commuter apartment, despite not being eligible. This arrangement, running from March 1, 2016, to April 18, 2018, benefited Teigen to the tune of 390,000 NOK. However, he failed to report the tax advantage.
Teigen, who earlier served as Listhaug’s political advisor, admitted his guilt when the case was heard at Oslo District Court previously in December. The case was settled as a guilty plea.
In response to his conviction, Teigen has stated on Facebook, "I have decided not to appeal. I will serve my sentence, make amends, and save resources and taxpayers’ money in the process. It will take more than this to break me."
After leaving his political post, Teigen went on to work as a journalist at Document.
