Nord Pool participant to face police investigation
Nord Pool, the Nordic power exchange, said on Tuesday that the Norwegian Financial Supervisory Authority (Kredittilsynet) had filed charges with the police against a participant on the exchange.
The charges date back to December 2002, when an unnamed participant on Nord Pool is alleged to have sold off a forwards contract on the exchange’s financial market with the intention of maximising returns from a call option it held for the same period. The incident occurred on a single day’s trading.
Nord Pool referred the issue to the Kredittilsynet last May, but the authority has only now brought charges before the Norwegian National Authority for Investigation and Prosecution of Economic and Environmental Crime (Økokrim). Torger Lien, Nord Pool’s president and ceo told The Heren Report: “I don’t know why it has taken until now (to bring charges). The Kredittilsynet has been carrying out its own investigation for the past year.”
He added that it was not possible to provide any information – whether the trading company in question was still a member of Nord Pool, which contracts traded, etc – that could lead to the identification of the party under investigation. “The name will become public if and when the police decide to press charges,” he said. He added that there were substantial punishments that could be brought against both the
institution and individuals involved, including fines and jail sentences. He was unable to confirm whether, if found guilty, the company in question would be barred from trading on the exchange.
In a statement Nordic exchange noted: “It is Nord Pool’s opinion that the matter did not have any noticeable consequences for the power prices paid by the general consumer in the Nordic region.” GR
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