-It did something with my security – NRK Norway – Overview of news from different parts of the country
– That made me quit the Center Party. That was definitely a strong reason why I dropped out of politics, says Lengali to NRK.
Specifically, the warning is about incidents in 2000 and in 2001. One incident Enoksen says he does not remember. About the other it is available in different versions.
– I think it’s a shame that Hilde has been doing this for 20 years. I wish we had talked about it a long time ago. My wish was that Hilde should move forward in politics. I had great faith in Hilde as a politician, says the Minister of Defense himself.
– Felt honored
Lengali first reported the incidents to Sp deputy Anne Beathe Tvinnereim in 2017. At that time, there was no talk of a formal notice and The party chose not to follow up the case because Enoksen at this time had no positions in the party.
But when the incidents occurred, Odd Roger Enoksen was party leader, while Hilde Lengali was deputy leader of Nordland Senterparti. According to Lengali, Enoksen often contacted her in party contexts – with praise and kind words.
– As the nomination for the 2001 election approached, he said that he wanted to work for me to get second place on the parliamentary list for Sp Nordland. I was surprised by that, says Lengali and continues:
– I felt honored that the party leader thought I was good.
But the feeling of recognition disappeared after the episode in the hotel room in Bodø, where Lengali states that Enoksen pushed her down on the bed, but as Enoksen says he can not remember at all.
Lengali says Enoksen attends an informal meeting in the hotel room to talk about her future, as a second candidate for Nordland. But after the incident, which Enoksen does not remember, he never mentioned this again, she claims.
– All my confidence disappeared. Also to myself, that I had been so stupid, that I had been fooled, says Lengali.
– Did you tell anyone?
– No, I do not think I said it to anyone, because I thought it was so embarrassing, that I had been so stupid and believed what he said.
– That was about it
The second incident at the hotel on Hell had consequences for Lengali’s involvement in the Center Party.
– Then I think it was important for me to appear as strong and tough and late as nothing. So we talked politics and sat in a communal sauna. Then we went to each our wardrobe. When I came out of the shower, he was standing between me and my towel, in the ladies’ wardrobe, with his arms outstretched.
– Then he said, “You look more like a movie star than a mother of five. I have never forgotten that, because that was about it.
She says that she felt powerless and that the situation was terrible.
– It had something to do with my security, that he could only do it, says Lengali, who later was central in the Green Party for many years, including as party secretary.
– Thoughtless
Enoksen has a different version of what happened in the wardrobe than Lengali. But he admits that he formulated himself in a way that he later regretted.
– So it was thoughtless, I see it, but since the door to her wardrobe was open, I thought she was done and ready to go. She was definitely not, and I apologized for that then and of course I apologize again today, he says.
– Why did you go into the ladies’ wardrobe?
– We swam in teams, we talked and took a sauna together. After showering I went because the ladies wardrobe. I figured she was done and stuck my head into the shower. Then Hilde came out of the shower. Then I said something stupid. I said: “Hilda, how wonderful you are. You look more like a movie star than a mother of five.
Sorry
Enoksen tells NRK that he realized he had said something stupid right away, and that he apologized.
– Hilde said “it’s all right, we are two grown people”. She put on the towel and I gave her a hug and left. It was stupid, of course I should not have done it, says the Minister of Defense, who says he apologized again later in the day.
– What did you hope to achieve when you stopped by the ladies’ wardrobe?
– To go to breakfast with Hilde.
– Have you behaved similarly towards other ladies?
– What I do not want. But I am soon 68 years old and have lived a long life. I’ve never been in the locker room with anyone, other than seeing Hilde naked. I was standing in the doorway, I had not entered the cloakroom.
– Should this have consequences for Odd Roger Enoksen?
– It is the other that must be considered.
– Is this a situation that could have happened to you today?
– I really am not. Of course, I learned from this. The door was open, I had a shower, and I did not think that she was still naked and had not come out of the shower.
– What has it figured out now, that you did not know that gang?
– I have become 20 years older.
Ifra i 2017
Hilde Lengali says the incident at Hell was an important reason why she resigned from the Center Party. But she never told others in the party – until November 2017. Then the metoo wave had just washed over the world.
She says she remembers an article from the time, where the Center Party stood out as a party without metoo warning.
– Then I thought – now I have to say no!
She contacted Deputy Anne Beathe Tvinnereim, who briefed Secretary General Knut Olsen on the matter. When NRK now addresses Tvinnereim, she refers to Olsen for comments on the case.
NRK has sent the Center Party’s general secretary several questions, which he chooses to answer in writing and collectively:
“Notice of this 20-year-old case was received weeks ago and handled in accordance with the party’s ethical guidelines. I was informed in 2017 that there should have been an incident many years ago, but that the person in question wanted this not to be treated as a notification case. The party leader was informed of the case on Wednesday this week. “
For Lengali, the matter became relevant again in the election in 2021. She experiences it as a betrayal that Odd Roger Enoksen comes out on the palace square as a minister.
– Da I saw that he entered government I got a little shock. I felt let down. Like it did not matter what I had said.
– Disgust
Lengali says she herself was surprised at how she herself reacted when she saw Enoksen on TV or heard him on the radio after he became Minister of Defense last autumn.
– I reacted with disgust I would say. “I can not bear to see him.” But then came the war in Ukraine, and then Enoksen was in all channels all the time. So instead of switching off, after a couple of days I stopped turning on the TV and radio and watching the news, she says.
After watching the new film about the Giske case “Power reigns”, she was convinced that she had to do something.
– There was a lot of anger. I tried to keep it down, but it did not work. The next day it was almost like a dam burst in me – and I thought “this is no longer possible”.
– But 20 years have passed?
– What has helped me to speak out is metoo and the film «Power reigns». And the Cissi Wallin case in Sweden, which has also made me very upset. And then of course I want to be able to turn on the radio again, then.
– Terribly heavy
Odd Roger Enoksen says it is true that he perceived Hilde Lengali as a great political talent and rejects that these were hidden ulterior motives behind the rose at the time.
– She has shown this by being the first candidate for the Green Party in Buskerud and Secretary General of the Green Party. So she has shown that my assessment of her was correct. She did an excellent job and I would like to have her in the Storting. Hilde was good, he says.
– How is it for you as Minister of Defense that this case arises?
– It’s sad. It’s terribly heavy. But I do not feel sorry for myself, says Enoksen, who says he would have preferred Lengali to have contacted him a long time ago.
– I sincerely regret that this episode happened and I think it is a pity that Hilde has been born on this for so many years, he says.
It was only two weeks ago, Friday the 18th. March that she provided the formal notice. When asked what she wants to achieve, she answers as follows:
– For me, it’s to finish it. But also that others who have experienced the same thing, may dare to speak. That at least they say, it was not my fault, it was someone else who did this to me.