ABSTRACT
The events that led to the investigation of Hurtigruten Cruises by Wiersholm were the handling of Covid-19 outbreaks on two voyages from Tromsø to Svalbard with MS Roald Amundsen in July 2020. The outbreak led to 62 people testing positive for Corona, and 544 people who were on board the relevant voyages were exposed to a possible risk of infection. The suspected fraud was concerned with the violation of corona restrictions by cruise executives to ensure the flow of revenues into the company. When the Coronavirus caused lockdown of most activities, Norway’s Hurtigruten cruises used its channels into political decision-makers to convince politicians to open up again for cruise activities. Hurtigruten management was successful, and they could quickly reopen their shipping activities. However, quarantine rules were not followed, suspected cases of the Coronavirus were not followed up, and crew members felt their lives were in danger but were afraid of speaking out.
