Dispute over impartiality in the presidential race in NIF: – Suitable for weakening trust


Sports lawyer Gunnar-Martin Kjenner believes that two of those who will point to a new sports president should declare themselves incompetent.

INTERNAL BOARD FIGHT: Zaineb Al-Samarai (35) has taken up the fight against chairman Berit Kjøll (67) to become the new sports president.

Incumbent president Berit Kjøll (67) or board member Zaineb al-Samarai (35). One of them will be the new sports president this summer.

Before that, ten people in the election committee must say what they think. Mads Stian Hansen and Astrid Waaler Kaas are sitting there.

They shouldn’t have done that, says Gunnar-Martin Kjenner. The sports lawyer considers the two, for various reasons, to be ineligible.

The story goes back a few years:

When Berit Kjøll won the election by the narrowest possible margin four years ago, handball president Kåre Geir Lio used NOK 85,000 on her election campaign. Kjøll herself mentioned how Lio – together with herself – led this election campaign.

Therefore, Lio would obviously have been ineligible to even sit on the selection committee, according to Gunnar-Martin Kjenner.

This year – i.e. in 2019 – Mads Stian Hansen sat on the handball association’s board, led by Lio in particular.

Mads Stian Hansen is also listed as an employee of the same foundation as Kåre Geir Liocalled “North Norwegian leadership development”. And: Hansen has had the job as head coach of the Norwegian women’s national team.

– Disability affects Lio’s subordinates in the handball association, in this case Mads Stian Hansen. That the two are also colleagues in “North Norwegian leadership development” reinforces the impression that Mads Stian Hansen is not unwelcome as a member of the selection committee for the Sports Council 2023, Kjenner tells VG.

He has worked with sports law for a number of years, and is also the author of the book “Sports and law”, which has appeared in several editions.

HANDBALL LEADER: Mads Stian Hansen (th) has been the main manager of the handball girls for many years. Here he is with Henny Ella Reistad.

Mads Stian Hansen emphasizes that he sees himself as competent, and that he has the necessary competence required to sit on the election committee.

– If someone is to assess my competence, then it will have to be the election committee or someone with legal expertise, he says, confronted with Kjenner’s view.

– Is it the case that you feel bound by the opinion of the Norwegian Handball Association?

– Not at all. It is Mads Stian Hansen who sits on the election committee, not the handball association. It doesn’t affect me at all.

Kåre Geir Lio says that he has not worked with Hansen for over a year, and that he himself is only associated with NNL through a position corresponding to ten percent.

The handball president confirms that the association is also supporting Berit Kjøll this time.

– She has done a very good job and led Norwegian sports in a good way through four special years, says Lio.

– Have you appointed Mads Stian Hansen to the selection committee to get Berit Kjøll appointed as the new sports president?

– Absolutely not. No. He was going to leave the board of the handball association and we then wondered if he could be a candidate. He wanted that, and then we suggested it to him. It was because he is a person who has experience in board positions for over ten years, and extensive experience from various roles in sport. Then we thought it was a good candidate, says Lio.

LAWYER: Gunnar-Martin Kjenner (pictured) is critical of the competence of two of them in the selection committee.

Customer of the spouse

Astrid Waaler Kaas also sits on the selection committee. She was married to Dag Kaas, who died last year. Berit Kjøll has used the services of Dag Kaas on a professional level for several decades.

The sports president has characterized Dag Kaas in the media as a “head coach” and “a mentor”, who has been hired for leadership training. She also wrote a memorial in VG after Kaas’ death last year.

Astrid Waaler Kaas was a deputy member of the board of Dakas AS for a long time, but took over as chairman and general manager – according to the Brønnøysund Register – after the death of her spouse last year.

– Ahead of the presidential election in the Swedish Sports Confederation 2019 she flagged her support to Berit Kjøll, Gunnar-Martin Kjøll assesses to VG.

– After the election of Berit Kjøll as sports president, she wrote a reader post where she defended Berit Kjøll after allegations of impure trotting from Berit Kjøll and Kåre Geir Lio’s side prior to the election. A person who has stated his position clearly and publicly before the case is taken up for consideration or a decision is made, will easily be regarded as biased and consequently incompetent, he continues.

IN THE ELECTION COMMITTEE: Astrid Waaler Kaas.

Kjenner believes that “a business collaboration over time pulls in the same direction”.

– Overall, the aforementioned points indicate that there are such special circumstances which, according to the disqualification rule, are suitable to weaken confidence in Astrid Waaler Kass’s impartiality as a member of the election committee.

VG has confronted Kaas – who is deputy chairman of the election committee – with this:

– Everything Kjenner points out was known when I was proposed as deputy chairman of NIF’s election committee at the parliament in 2021. I was considered capable at the time by those who elected me. I still consider myself competent, she says.



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