COPENHAGEN - The Norwegian Nobel Institute has enlisted the help of international IT experts to investigate suspicious betting activity that occurred just hours before the Nobel Peace Prize was announced, reported German Press Agency (dpa).
According to a report published on Sunday in the Dagbladet newspaper, Institute Director Kristian Berg Harpviken said that several external specialist agencies had been brought in.
He did not disclose which international partners are involved in the probe.
Unusual betting patterns had fuelled speculation about a possible leak from within the institute.
However, Harpviken said he does not believe a leak occurred, suggesting instead that the organisation may have been the target of cyber espionage.
Speaking to Dagbladet, he said that the possible perpetrators were believed to have a financial motive, but that a political background could not be ruled out.
Venezuelan opposition leader María Corina Machado was not considered a favourite for this year's Nobel Peace Prize, and yet bets on her name surged in the hours before her win was announced on Friday.
According to reports in the Aftenposten and Finansavisen newspapers, the calculated probability of Machado winning the Nobel Prize suddenly skyrocketed overnight at one betting site, just hours before the prize winner was announced.
The sudden betting spike prompted the Nobel Institute to launch an investigation into the suspicious bets.
According to the reports, several five-figure sums were then bet on Machado during the night.
One person is said to have bet US$67,820 on the eventual winner, in what was their first ever bet on the platform. - BERNAMA