Telenor on Wednesday announced that it has proposed banking executive Gunn Wærsted as its new chairperson and will put the matter to a vote later this week.
The position of chair of the board at the Norwegian incumbent has been vacant since October, when Svein Aaser was forced to tender his resignation amidst the latest developments in the ongoing Uzbekistan scandal.
Norway’s industry minister Monica Mæland said she had received new information related to the Uzbekistan investigation and no longer had confidence in the Telenor chairman. Aaser himself simply said he and the ministry had different views on the handling of the situation.
Telenor has been drawn into the Uzbekistan issue via its 33% stake in Vimpelcom, which operates there. Law enforcement authorities in the U.S. and the Netherlands have been investigating Vimpelcom’s operations in Uzbekistan for some months, following allegations of bribery and corruption.
Gunn Wærsted currently serves as executive vice president and member of the group executive management at Nordea Bank and as country senior executive at Nordea Bank Norway. She has held a variety of senior positions in the banking and insurance sectors during her career.
She is chair of the board of Norwegian state-owned company Petoro and has previously served on the boards of Statoil and Statkraft and Ferd Holding.
Telenor’s corporate assembly will consider her nomination at a meeting on Thursday.
