OSLO (AFP) - Norway's state-run oil group Statoil Saturday announced the appointment of a leading banking executive, Jannik Lindbaek, as its new chairman after his predecessor stood down amid allegations of corruption in Iran.

Leif Terje Loeddesoel resigned in September in response to the launch of a police probe here into bribery allegations surrounding the company's contract with an Iranian consultancy, Horton Investments.

A company statement said Saturday Kaci Kullman Five, Statoil's former spokesman who has been serving as acting chairman, will take over as deputy to Lindbaek. The company's strategy remained unchanged, the statement stressed.

The 64-year-old is the deputy chairman of the Norwegian Den norske Bank (DnB), and also heads the Norwegian branch of the anti-corruption agency Transparency International.

NTB news agency quoted Norway's Oil and Energy Minister Einar Steensnaes as saying: "This is an intelligent and fair choice, which I believe to be a choice for Statoil's future." Norway controls 82 percent of the company's capital.

Norwegian police raided Statoil's headquarters on September 11 following media reports alleging the company had last year signed an 11-year contract with an Iranian consultant, Abbas Yazdi, for 15.2 million dollars to smooth business development deals in Iran.

The terms of that contract, which was to ensure Statoil consultancy services on business and political developments in Iran until 2012, may have violated Norwegian law.

According to Norwegian financial daily Dagens Naeringsliv, Yazdi has close ties to a senior executive at Iranian national oil group NIOC.

The paper alleged that the NIOC executive, Mahdi Hashemi Rafsanjani -- the son of the former Iranian president -- would likely pocket the $15.2 million, but he rejected the accusation.

Statoil is heavily involved in oil activities in Iran, where last year it won a contract to develop South Pars, one of the world's largest natural gas fields. NIOC is Statoil's partner in the contract.

Statoil's chief executive Olav Fjell also resigned after the company became embroiled in scandal.

Inge Hansen, the company's chief financial officer who was the acting chief executive, has said the bribery scandal was the result of a series of mistakes and did not represent any failures by Statoil.

Fjell has denied any involvement in securing the consultancy contract, though he did admit to authorizing one of his employees to go ahead with the deal.

The contract has since been terminated, though Statoil has said previously that Yazdi's company would retain 5.2 million dollars already transferred to a Swiss bank account upon signing of the contract.