Monitoring Report
LONDON/OSLO: In a landmark legal victory, the Norwegian government has given a clean chit to Norwegian-Pakistani businessman Umar Farooq Zahoor by dismissing a 16-years-old alleged corruption case against him – citing a lack of sufficient evidence to prove corruption and wrongdoing.
The decision to dismiss the alleged corruption case against Umar Farooq Zahoor has been made by Norway’s top prosecuting authority after establishing that there is not enough evidence against Umar Farooq Zahoor either to prosecute him or to justify keeping the case file open because there is lack of evidence in the case, legal documents show.
The Norwegian decision brings to a close a case that has made headlines for years, including recently when Zahoor was filmed with the high-profile President Trump-appointed delegation at Nur Khan Airbase in Pakistan, welcoming US Vice President J D Vance, Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner as part of Pakistan’s efforts to broker peace between the US and Iran.
Not only has the case been dropped altogether “due to the state of the evidence”, which has been found to be “insufficient”, but the prosecuting authority has also ordered Norwegian law enforcement agencies, including the police, to “take the necessary steps regarding any still-active wanted-person alerts/notices” in order to withdraw all outstanding notices and warrants, locally and internationally.
In recent months, Zahoor launched a legal case against senior Norwegian prosecutor Carl Graff Hartmann, alleging that he had conspired against him over the years in collusion with the right-wing Norwegian tabloid Verdens Gang (VG) by repeatedly targeting him on false grounds. Zahoor alleged, in particular, that Carl Graff Hartmann had repeatedly provided defamatory and false narratives to his contacts in the right-wing media to settle what Zahoor described as a personal enmity against him.
Umar Farooq Zahoor had previously been wanted and charged in connection with the multi-million-kroner fraud against Nordea in 2010 – a charge he always denied and against which he launched several legal challenges to maintain his innocence and clear his name. He was accused of being one of the alleged principal figures behind the Nordea fraud, but Zahoor consistently denied any role in the fraud and maintained that the prosecution had no proof of his involvement.
He maintained that the banking case dated back to 2010, while Zahoor himself had not been to Norway since 2005. It was over the same case that Norwegian authorities sought his extradition, but the UAE government refused to comply with the request due to a lack of evidence against him.
According to the court documents, Norwegian law-enforcement authorities began investigating the case in 2010, with Zahoor becoming part of the investigation and cooperating with police through his lawyers. In 2012, Oslo Police closed the case on evidential grounds and recommended to the public prosecutor that the case against Zahoor be dismissed. However, prosecutor Carl Graff Hartmann kept the file open for years and continued making statements to the media. After Zahoor recently launched legal proceedings accusing Hartmann of defamation and conspiring against him, Norwegian authorities referred the case to the chief prosecutor for review. Within a week of receiving the file, the chief prosecutor decided this week to dismiss the case completely.
The same Oslo Police clearance letter, along with an investigation report by Pakistan’s Federal Investigation Agency (FIA), formed the basis of a May 2023 decision by Lahore judicial magistrate Ghulam Murtaza Virk clearing Zahoor in two fraud and money-laundering cases registered against him in 2020 following complaints by his former wife, Sophia Mirza, during the PTI government. Following their bitter divorce, Mirza had alleged that Zahoor was involved in bank fraud in Norway in 2010 and a separate alleged fraud in Bern, Switzerland, in 2004. The FIA, however, informed the court that its investigation found no evidence establishing Zahoor’s involvement in fraud, money laundering or corruption, while the Oslo Police letter confirmed that Norwegian investigators lacked sufficient evidence to successfully prosecute him.
Umar Farooq Zahoor said in a statement issued through his Norwegian lawyer he was relieved that the high-profile fraud case against him has been quashed by the same Norwegian authority that built the case against him. The businessman said: “For nearly 16 years, this case has followed my name around the world. It has followed me to banks, authorities, business partners and international meetings. But the worst thing is not what it has cost me professionally. The worst is the moments with my family that I can never get back.
“The prosecution has now established, after nearly 16 years, that there is insufficient evidence of corruption and wrongdoing against me. I maintained this position throughout, but I was targeted and witch-hunted by certain elements within the system. The decision to drop charges against me has been made on the basis of the government’s own internal prosecution inquiry, establishing that the case lacks merit, lacks evidence and that it is not in the public interest to continue the case. I am finally vindicated and my innocence is established, but I have paid a huge price due to the victimisation I faced at the global level.
“I am thankful to the prosecutor who saw through the facts and dismissed the case, which was based on untruths.”
In his latest lawsuit filed a few months back, Zahoor had alleged that the Norwegian tabloid VG had conducted a racist, Islamophobic, malicious and one-sided campaign against him for more than 16 years, publishing defamatory material and repeatedly making false corruption claims despite the fact that the International Criminal Police Organization (Interpol) had ended cases against him due to their political nature, while police and courts had also ended cases against him on the same basis.
He complained that VG had targeted him in alliance with sections of the Indian media and damaged his reputation despite the fact that he enjoys considerable respect within the international diplomatic community. Zahoor has received several honours for his work, provided energy solutions to different African countries, closed transactions worth billions of dollars over the last decade in different countries, and is a well-known figure in the UAE. He has also had the privilege of advising members of the Royal Family on financial discipline.
He is the only Pakistani so far to have been honoured twice with the Hilal-e-Imtiaz within a period of less than six months, with Pakistan recognising his pivotal role in attracting hundreds of millions of dollars in direct foreign investment to the country and his distinguished services during the Pakistan-India conflict.
The tabloid had published an article against Zahoor, allegedly with assistance from the prosecutor, around the time of the high-profile US visit to Pakistan, even though the Norwegian Police had issued a certificate on March 16, 2026, stating that businessman Umar Farooq Zahoor had no criminal record in Norway and that there were no registered criminal sanctions or convictions against Zahoor within Norwegian jurisdiction, in accordance with the Police Databases Act.
Umar Farooq Zahoor has received several state honours and awards for his international business activities and services.
In 2023, he was awarded a Medal of Honour by Equatorial Guinea, with reports crediting him with facilitating more than $55 million in foreign direct investment into the country. He was subsequently awarded Pakistan’s prestigious Hilal-e-Imtiaz, announced in August 2024 and formally conferred on him at the Pakistan Day investiture ceremony on March 23, 2025, in recognition of his services to Pakistan, particularly his role in facilitating hundreds of millions of dollars in foreign investment.
Zahoor was subsequently named for another Pakistani state honour in August 2025, with reports linking the recognition to his diplomatic contributions following the May 2025 Pakistan-India conflict. Internationally, Zahoor served for five years as Ambassador-at-Large for the Republic of Liberia, a position he held until 2024. In September 2024, Zahoor was appointed Pro Bono Ambassador-at-Large by the Intergovernmental Institution for the Use of Micro-algae Spirulina Against Malnutrition (IIMSAM), an intergovernmental observer to the United Nations Economic and Social Council. This year, the Government of Pakistan appointed Zahoor as Pakistan’s Ambassador-at-Large for Economic Diplomacy.
