National Authority for Investigation and Prosecution of Economic and Environmental Crime in Norway

The National Authority for Investigation and Prosecution of Economic and Environmental Crime is Norway's central unit for fighting economic and environmental crimes. The unit, created in 1989, has its main office in Oslo. Økokrim is both a police unit and a prosecution authority. The current director is Pål Lønseth. The unit is organized in multidisciplinary teams headed by public prosecutors. Each team has a specific field of expertise, such as corruption, computer crime or fraud. Cases The organization has played an important role in some major legal cases. In 2003, Økokrim arrested Mullah Krekar, alleged leader of the Kurdish Islamist group, Ansar al-Islam. 2002 After Jon Lech Johansen released DeCSS, he was taken to court by Økokrim. The trial opened in the Oslo District Court on 9 December 2002 with Johansen pleading not guilty and the defense, by Electronic Frontier Foundation argued that no illegal access was obtained to anyone else's information, since Johansen owned the DVDs himself. They also argued that it is legal under Norwegian law to make copies of such data for personal use. The verdict was announced on 7 January 2003, acquitting Johansen of all charges.