Iceland Jail Top Bankers For 46 Years, Europe ‘Outraged’

Fact checked

Iceland has differed from the rest of Europe and the US by allowing bankers to be prosecuted as criminals, rather than treating them as a protected species.

Iceland has found nine top bankers guilty and sentenced them to decades in jail for crimes related to the 2008 economic crash.

On Thursday Iceland’s Supreme Court returned a guilty verdict for all nine defendants in the Kaupthing market manipulation case, after a long running court trial which began in April last year.

Kaupthing was a big international bank headquartered in Reykjavik, Iceland. It expanded internationally for years, but collapsed in 2008 under huge debts, crippling the small nation’s economy.

By demanding that bankers be subject to the same laws as the rest of society, Iceland opted for a very different strategy in the wake of the financial crisis to rest of Europe and the US, where banks were fined nominal amounts, and directors and chief executives escaped punishment altogether.

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While the US and UK governments provided bail outs and government stakes for their big banks with tax-payers’ money – essentially giving bankers the green light to continue behaving in the same way – Iceland adopted a different approach, declaring it would let the banks go bust, weed out and punish the criminal element at the top of the banks, and protect the savings of the people.

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Former director of the bank, Hreiðar Már Sigurðsson, who was found guilty and jailed last year, was also given a six-month extension to his sentence on Thursday.

According to Iceland Monitor, the bankers are found guilty of crimes relating to deceitfully financing share purchases – the bank lent money for the purchase of the shares while using its own shares as collateral for the loans.

They are also found guilty of creating a misleading demand for Kaupthing shares by means of deception and pretence.

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The Icelandic Approach

These guilty verdicts are just the latest in Iceland’s unprecedented clampdown since the economic crash. Authorities have been pursuing bank bosses, chief executives, civil servants and corporate looters for crimes ranging from insider trading to fraud, money laundering, misleading markets, breach of duties and lying to officials.

Meanwhile the economy that collapsed so spectacularly has rebounded after letting its banks go bust, imposing capital controls and protecting its own citizens rather than the elite bank bosses responsible for the mess.

This determination to hold people to account for actions that caused intense financial misery contrasts strongly with the U.K., the rest of Europe and the US. Yes, fines were imposed on the 20 biggest banks for transgressions such as market manipulation, money-laundering and mis-selling mortgages, but these costs fall on shareholders and, by hampering the banks’ ability to lend, they also punish the rest of society.

Meanwhile the guilty senior bankers, thanks to government bail outs, carry on making enormous profits and collecting their obscene bonuses as though nothing happened.

Last year, the International Monetary Fund declared that Iceland had achieved economic recovery “without compromising its welfare model” or unduly punishing its citizens for crimes committed by its bankers.

Iceland is right to jail it’s bankers – and the US and Europe is wrong to merely slap a few wrists and give the green light to future outrages.

Baxter Dmitry

Baxter Dmitry

Baxter Dmitry is a writer at The People's Voice. He covers politics, business and entertainment. Speaking truth to power since he learned to talk, Baxter has travelled in over 80 countries and won arguments in every single one. Live without fear.
Email: baxter@thepeoplesvoice.tv
Baxter Dmitry

17 Comments

  1. It is now time to punish the bankers responsible for the 2008 crush in the US. US and UK bankers forced the countries into WWI and WWII. WWII was started simply to undermine Germany’s success in pushing them out of that country,.

  2. Dunno that Europe is outraged, other than major criminals and other bank leaders criminals. Suits them right. What do they think they are? Fuckin Alpha Centauri? Screw them! The longer they rot, the better for us.

  3. Iceland is a “little fish”; and for a time we can get away with thumbing our nose at the bankers.

    Our population is small, our ethnicity is homogeneous (Norse/Celtic); as if our religion (Lutheran). So, using multiculturalism against us, like is being used in Northern Europe and the US, is not viable. Unless, of course, Soros and the NGOs can get us to resettle Syrian refugees (ISIS) here amongst us to sew discontinuity.

    No, the Satanic oligarchy will wait until the US is destroyed, seconded to the Satanic NWO. Then, they will bring us their “Chinese Model” as well.

  4. Iceland is a “little fish”; and for a time we can get away with thumbing our nose at the bankers.

    Our population is small, our ethnicity is homogeneous (Norse/Celtic); as is our religion (Lutheran). So, using multiculturalism against us, like is being used in Northern Europe and the US to divide and conquer, is not yet viable. Unless, of course, Soros and the NGOs can get us to resettle Syrian refugees (undercover ISIS) here amongst us to sew discontinuity.

    No, the Satanic oligarchy will wait until the US is destroyed, seconded to the Satanic NWO. Then, they will bring us their “Chinese Model” as well.

    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/5747167a86e6850c90da74bcc2323ee7eb8da6062ae2bd4297e0c0d731cde87f.jpg

  5. You know whats even more funny?
    Has anyone heard of a small country nearby Iceland, that happen to own 80+B to IMF and I do remember the fiasco how the debt went from 3B to 80B overnight. And then there is Iceland. 😀 So close jet so far from the solution. I could not imagine 2 ,more different scenarios and the close proximity makes it even more interesting. If by now you still confused – Ireland.

  6. Good for Iceland, but the banks still control every economy, decide who goes to war and when, approves candidates for election and controls what presidents do one elected, decide which projects will be acoomplished or not. Sadly, this action by Iceland will not be duplicated in the west or Europe.

  7. “Europe ‘Outraged'”? Total click-bait. There’s not mention of any in the article. Let alone there’s any actual outrage in Europe. On the contrary, this European applauds this ruling very much.

  8. Nkgoo, geniş kapsamlı bilgi platformudur. Her konuda bilgi içeriği üretme amacıyla yayın hayatına başlamış referans kaynak sitedir. Ayrıca telif hakları konularına da özen gösterilmektedir.

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