The latest example emerged Friday, when newspaper Aftenposten carried a front-page story about the state pension fund's investments in international tax havens.
Norway's center-left government coalition has made an issue of battling offshore tax havens. Both Finance Minister Kristin Halvorsen and the minister in charge of foreign aid, Erik Solheim, have harshly criticized companies, both Norwegian- and foreign-owned, that avoid taxes by registering themselves in countries with low or non-existent tax obligations.
At the same time, however, the state's massive pension fund that's fueled by Norway's oil revenues has been investing billions in companies that are registered in tax havens. This includes companies "based" in places like the Cayman Islands, Bermuda and Cyprus.
Anti-corruption officials are also concerned about such investments, because tax havens generally shroud ownership and many operations in secrecy. "Then it's easier for criminals to hide their money here," Jan Borgen of Transparency Norge told Verdensmagasinet X, which compiled a rundown of the state pension fund's overseas investments in firms based in tax havens.
Finance Minister Halvorsen has characterized Norwegians who invest in tax havens as a "provocation against Norwegian taxpayers." She's not demanding, though, that the state pension fund blacklist tax haven investments.
She admitted that conducting international business, especially from a self-professed ethical standpoint, creates "ethical dilemmas." She invited Transparency International to take up this dilemma when work begins on new sets of investment guidelines. Solheim declined comment.
Another similar dilemma arose earlier this week, when the foreign ministry harshly criticized Iran for its stoning of a man convicted of adultery. At the same time, however, Norway continues to do business with Iran through its ownership stake in state oil company Statoil.
Environmental activists also blasted government hypocrisy on national radio this week, when they called for the closure of coal mining in the sensitive Arctic territory of Svalbard.
High coal prices mean the state is earning record amounts on the coal it ships to foreign power plants, which are exactly the type of polluting facilities that the Norwegian government criticizes. That means the state is actually supplying the coal that feeds the plants that create the pollution the Norwegian politicians don't like.
"There is a lack of consistency, when the government says one thing and state funds do something else," said Borgen, in response to the pension fund dilemma. Opposition politician Hans Olav Syversen of the Christian Democrats agreed.
"We must have rules that are possible to put in practice, but I absolutely urge tighter rules in this area," Syversen said.
