Norwegian Oil Company and Executives Charged with Bribing Congo President

Norwegian prosecutors charged Hemla Africa Holding and two executives with allegedly paying $25 million in bribes to Congo’s President Sassou Nguesso and his family to secure an offshore licence. PetroNor E&P denied the claims. The executives, first arrested in 2021, deny wrongdoing.

Prosecutors in Norway on Monday formally charged an oil company and two of its executives with allegedly paying millions of dollars in bribes to Republic of Congo President Denis Sassou Nguesso and members of his family, in a case that has drawn international attention to alleged corruption in the oil sector. Norwegian authorities said the investigation was triggered after their counterparts in Monaco requested legal assistance regarding a suspicious bank transaction, which raised concerns about the movement of large sums of money and potential illicit activity linked to the licensing of oil operations in the Republic of Congo.
According to prosecutors, the bulk of the approximately $25 million in alleged bribes was offered to the president and his family in 2016, during the period when the Norway-based oil group was seeking approval for an offshore licence. The indictment further alleges that additional bribes were provided in the form of undue advantages and loans, suggesting a long-term scheme to influence licensing decisions and ensure financial benefits flowed to the Congolese president and his family.
The company at the center of the investigation, Hemla Africa Holding, is a wholly owned subsidiary of the Norwegian group PetroNor E&P, which is publicly listed on the Oslo stock exchange. Sassou Nguesso’s family controls the Congolese company MGI International, which owned 25 percent of Hemla E&P Congo, the local company that was awarded the offshore licence. Prosecutors claim that the two Norwegian executives involved in the case ensured that dividends were regularly paid from Hemla E&P Congo to MGI, effectively transferring significant sums of money to the president’s close family members. According to the indictment, up to and including 2024, these payments conferred an advantage of at least $24.68 million to President Sassou Nguesso through his family connections.
The allegations had immediate financial repercussions, with PetroNor’s share price falling more than 14 percent on Monday before partially recovering later in the day. The company, however, strongly denied the charges, issuing a statement emphasizing that it “categorically contests the indictment of Hemla and welcomes the opportunity to have the case thoroughly examined in court.”
The two Norwegian executives, identified in media reports as Hemla board members Gerhard Ludvigsen and Knut Sovold, were first arrested in 2021 in connection with the affair. Both were initially held in custody for two weeks before being released, and they have consistently denied the allegations. Their lawyer, Halvard Helle, told the financial newspaper Dagens Naeringsliv that “cooperating with local partners for licence shares is a totally normal way of organising oil operations around the world,” highlighting that such partnerships are standard practice in international energy projects and do not inherently imply wrongdoing.
President Denis Sassou Nguesso has ruled the oil-rich Republic of Congo for more than four decades, serving across two separate periods. His extended tenure has coincided with significant growth in the country’s oil sector, which has long been a cornerstone of its economy. The case against Hemla Africa Holding and its executives has drawn attention not only to alleged financial misconduct but also to broader concerns about governance, transparency, and corruption in resource-rich nations, raising questions about the mechanisms in place to regulate foreign investment and ensure fair allocation of lucrative licences