Investigation
On 7 March 1995, five days after the case became public the Oslo administration started an investigation into the matter. On 11 March, the leader of Oslo AUF, Ragnar Bøe Elgsaas, submitted a report to the City Council, in which he admitted to inflating the membership numbers submitted to city, and that they had later received increased grants based upon these incorrect numbers. In his report, Elgsaas referred to this practice as 'advancing' money to pay for membership fees for people whom AUF had reason to believe wanted to become members, or renew their memberships with the party. The same day as he pled guilty, he resigned from his position as leader of Oslo AUF.
On 14 March, former leaders of AUF, Jens Stoltenberg, the Deputy Leader of the Norwegian Labour Party at that time, and Turid Birkeland, admitted that the lying about AUF's total membership to pay for membership fees had become a common and accepted practice. On 16 March, the police started a formal criminal investigation of AUF's Oslo chapter. The Treasurer Office of the Oslo administration concluded on 20 May that AUF Oslo had wrongfully received NOK 600,000 in government grants and NOK 48,000 in seminar subsidies.
On 3 February 1996, Minister of Transport and Communications, Kjell Opseth of the Norwegian Labour Party, submitted a formal complaint to the police, in which he accused 24 other youth organisations of fraud. The accusations were divided into four different categories, which meant that there was a statute of limitations attached to some of the charges. This resulted in the acquittal of Thorbjørn Jagland (then leader of the Norwegian Labour Party) and Stoltenberg. This led to an angry outcry from the opposition parties. On 16 February, several lawyers, among them Juror Dr. Johs. Andenæs, stated that they had reacted strongly upon what they saw as the Labour Party's interference in an attempt to exempt AUF from the criminal investigation.
On 1 April 1996, formal charges were made against former treasurer Røberg Larsen, former leader Elgsaas, former leader Anders Hornslien and former treasurer Anders Greif Mathisen by prosecutor Harald Strand. On 4 June, the Oslo Young Conservatives and the Oslo's Progress Party's Youth were forced to pay back NOK 70,000 to the city. On 29 October, the police dismissed the fraud cases against the other 22 youth organisations.
Read more about this topic: Workers' Youth League Membership Scandal