Laundered proceeds were not confiscated
Supreme Court judgment 20 October 2025, HR-2025-2048-A, (case no. 25-081750STR-HRET and case no. 25-081766STR-HRET), criminal case, appeal against Borgarting Court of Appeal's judgment 2 April 2025.
The Public Prosecution Authority (Counsel Johan Strand Moldestad) v. A (Counsel Arne Petter Byre Sandvik), B (Counsel Halvard Helle)
Two young men were found guilty of laundering proceeds from a fraud totalling NOK 179,000. They had acted as “money mules” by allowing their bank accounts to be used to receive the proceeds, which were then transferred to an unknown third party. The portion of the money they received as payment for laundering – approximately NOK 2,000 and NOK 5,000 – was confiscated under section 67 of the Penal Code on confiscation of criminal proceeds.
The question before the Supreme Court was whether there was a legal basis to confiscate the remaining proceeds – approximately NOK 95,000 and NOK 74,000 –from the money launderers, even though the money was no longer in their possession. The relevant legal basis was section 69 subsection 1 second sentence of the Penal Code, which allows for the confiscation of the value of items that have been the subject of a criminal act, see subsection 1 (b).
The majority of the Supreme Court found that section 69 did not provide a legal basis to confiscate the remaining proceeds from the money launderers.
The majority reasoned that the second sentence of section 69 (1) must be interpreted in the light of the first sentence, which sets the limits for what may be confiscated. When read together with the first sentence (b), a closer link is required between the value being confiscated and the criminal act than was present in this case. Confiscation in such a situation would serve a purely punitive purpose and therefore amount to punishment. According to the majority, determining whether the scope of confiscation should be this broad is a matter for the legislature.
The judgment was handed down with dissent. One justice argued that section 69 (1) second sentence does provide a legal basis to confiscate the remaining proceeds from the money launderers, even in a case such as this.
Read the judgment from the Supreme Court (Norwegian only) (PDF)
Area of law: Criminal law, confiscation, section 69 of the Penal Code
Key paragraphs: 27-28, 33, 40-41, 55-57
Justices: Webster, Høgetveit Berg, Sæther, Sivertsen, Vang