Norwegian oil firm Ecoteq feared linked to Swedish crime network’s money laundering

A small Norwegian oil company, Ecoteq, is suspected of being used in a potential money-laundering scheme tied to one of Sweden’s most notorious crime networks, Dagbladet reports.

According to sources speaking to the Norwegian newspaper, large sums connected to Rawa Majid—leader of the feared Foxtrot network and described by Swedish authorities as one of Europe’s most dangerous criminals—may have been funneled through Ecoteq. The company, which had almost no revenue in 2022, saw its valuation surge to 2.64 billion Norwegian kroner (approximately €230 million) after acquiring a US firm with alleged oil rights in Utah. Critics, including shareholder and businessman Per Morten Hansen, claim the valuation was grossly inflated, calling it a “bluff.”

Hansen, who has acted as a whistleblower in the case, took legal action in December 2023 to halt the valuation, arguing it lacked legitimacy. His concerns were later supported by investigations published in Norwegian financial magazine Kapital.

The suspected money-laundering trail leads back to a 2020 police raid on a Stockholm hotel room, where authorities seized 1.5 kilograms of cocaine, 10,000 ecstasy pills, and over one million Swedish krona in cash. The room was registered to a Norwegian-Swedish man in his 20s, later convicted of serious drug offenses. Police found evidence linking him directly to Rawa Majid, revealing he had acted as a courier for the crime boss. His phone records also showed frequent contact with Majid’s parents.

Further investigations uncovered ties between the convicted man and two companies involved in a major VAT fraud scheme in Sweden. Among those convicted in the case was the man’s Norwegian-born grandfather, a businessman in his late 70s with prior convictions for tax crimes. Sources now fear funds from the Swedish fraud may have been earmarked for laundering through Ecoteq.

While the alleged money-laundering operation does not appear to have been completed, Hansen has called for an investigation by Norway’s National Authority for Investigation and Prosecution of Economic and Environmental Crime (Økokrim). “This has serious societal implications,” he told Dagbladet. “If you can’t trust auditors and lawyers, confidence in financial transactions—and the regulated companies built on them—will disappear entirely.”

Dagbladet reports it has obtained documentation supporting connections between the Ecoteq case and the Swedish fraud scheme.