Runar Søgaard

'Runar Søgaard (born 27 June 1967 in Kongsvinger, Hedmark, Norway) is a Norwegian leadership trainer, life-coach and motivational speaker. He was earlier married to singer Carola Häggkvist.[1]

In May 2004 he created some reaction during a speech in Stockholm, by saying that the Islamic prophet Muhammad had been a pedophile.[2] This led to some condemnation and protests. During the same sermon he also made disparaging remarks about Jesus and Siddharta. Søgaard received threats from radical Islamists. Author and columnist Jan Guillou at the Aftonbladet news paper called for calm and wrote "it would be of great harm for Sweden's Muslims if Søgaard was harmed".[3]

In 2012 his business Vinger Consulting AB was threatened with bankruptcy following a lawsuit by On Strategies LLC.[4][5] In November 2014, Søgaard was convicted for a third time of violating accounting laws, and sentenced by Nacka district court to two months of prison. Søgaard has declared he will appeal the sentence.[6]

From 1990 to 2000 Søgaard was married to the successful Swedish singer Carola Häggkvist. Together they have a son, Amadeus, born in 1998. He married for a second time in 2008 and has two sons in that marriage.[7] Søgaard is a good friend of Swedish-Nigerian artist Dr. Alban, retired footballer Thomas Brolin and table tennis player Jan-Ove Waldner. They are often seen together in Stockholm.

External links

References

  1. ↑ Alexander Klanderud:Runar Søgaard gifter seg (in Norwegian) Glomdalen.no, July 9, 2008.
  2. ↑ Aftonbladet: "Runar går till attack mot islam"
  3. ↑ Aftonbladet: "Runars martyrskap vore en skada för landets muslimer"
  4. ↑ Carlsen, Carina Charlotte (05.12.12). "Runar Søgaard trues med konkurs". NA24. Retrieved 7 December 2012. Check date values in: |date= (help)
  5. ↑ Hellberg, Magnus (12 March 2012). "Runar Sögaard krävs på pengar". Expressen (in Swedish). Retrieved 7 December 2012.
  6. ↑ Mogen, Trym (18 November 2014). "Kjendispastor Runar Søgaard dømt til fengsel". Dagbladet (in Norwegian). Retrieved 18 November 2014.
  7. ↑ Vassbotten, Arve (18 February 2012). "Runar Søgaard ble pappa for tredje gang". Seher (in Norwegian). Retrieved 7 December 2012.