Norwegian human rights organization accused of money laundering
Xinhua, June 13, 2015 Adjust font size:
A Norwegian human rights organization and its leader have been accused of money laundering and receiving stolen goods, Norway's public broadcaster NRK reported on Friday.
The amount of the charges against the Global Network for Rights and Development (GNRD), based in Stavanger, Norway, was over 100 million Norwegian kroner (13 million U.S. dollars), which the organization should have received from sources in the United Arab Emirates over a period of three years, NRK said.
The National Authority for Investigation and Prosecution of Economic and Environmental Crime, Norway's central unit for fighting economic and environmental crimes, said there are reasonable grounds to believe that the money is proceeds of crimes.
According to NRK, the unidentified GNRD leader is a Norwegian citizen who has foreign backgrounds and came to Norway as an asylum seeker.
The GNRD, which was founded in 2008, describes itself as a non-governmental organization to protect and promote human rights and development and has five regional offices in Jordan, Belgium, the United Arab Emirates, Switzerland and Spain. Endit