Rear Admiral

Rear Admiral

Rear admiral is a naval commissioned officer rank above that of a commodore and captain, and below that of a vice admiral. It is generally regarded as the lowest of the "admiral" ranks, which are also sometimes referred to as "flag officers" or "flag ranks"...

 Atle Torbjørn Karlsvik (born 22 June 1957) is a Norwegian naval officer who is charged for fraud and dereliction of duty. The appointment of him to Rear Admiral has in itself been surrounded by controversy. Kristin Krohn Devold

Kristin Krohn Devold

Kristin Krohn Devold is a former Minister of Defence of Norway who was forced to resign as a result of promoting Atle Torbjørn Karlsvik to head Norway's Joint chiefs of staff in 2005....

, who was Norway's defense minister at the time, has been accused of favouritism and conflict of interest

Conflict of interest

A conflict of interest occurs when an individual or organization is involved in multiple interests, one of which could possibly corrupt the motivation for an act in the other....

, as she is considered a personal friend of Karlsvik.

When the military discovered the possible overspending, they asked the police for help to investigate the claims. His indictment

Indictment

An indictment , in the common-law legal system, is a formal accusation that a person has committed a crime. In jurisdictions that maintain the concept of felonies, the serious criminal offence is a felony; jurisdictions that lack the concept of felonies often use that of an indictable offence—an...

 is based on travel expense reports where Karlsvik, according to investigators, charged the state for golfing holidays and vacations in warmer climates. The amount of money involved in the actual indictment is around .

On 24 May 2007, Bergen District Court acquitted him.