If Ragnhildur Sverrisdottir is worth anything as a PR person then surely she must distinguish herself from Bjorgolfur Thor’s latest attempts at total self destruction of his reputation. Or maybe she is working for free and her advice worth every penny?

In an astonishing interview with VB.is Bjorgolfur comes across as a spoiled little child who’s been found with both hands in the cookie jar.

- Sigurjon Th. Arnason did everything. I tried my best but could not stop him -

- Baugur did something much worse than I -

And the best one of them all, “Anybody can buy a business if they just pay a high enough price”.

Pardon the bull but that is outrageously untrue of Iceland in the last decade where those who could buy businesses were people like Bjorgolfur, through “special relationships” with the Independence Party or the Centre Party.

Imagine the cheek of a man who was handed the nation’s oldest bank for change and a loan he still has not paid and left it for dead five years later. Meanwhile racking up investments in Iceland such as the drug company Actavis, the telephone company Nova, the investment bank Straumur etc. Using the clout he had with the Independence Party to purchase historic city properties for his own special use. His father and business partner so grossly going overboard that his personal bankruptcy was one of the largest in history.

Bjorgolfur was one of few businessmen who used their control of the Icelandic banks’ management to distort competition, prevent others from creating serious businesses and take out money by the truckloads to gain control over different industries. The Exista brothers did just that at Kaupthing, the Baugur family and the Wernerssons at Glitnir. And all was made possible by their “special relationships” with the Independence Party which accepted tens of billions in bribes (supposed donations) to look the other way.  And in Bjorgolfur’s case even retaining the party’s chairman on the Landsbanki board.

In Iceland, and that is still true today as it was when Bjorgolfur was king… anybody can not buy a business by just paying a high enough price. You only have to be favourable to the government, or the resolution committees. Then you can really work some magic, but Bjorgolfur in his self-delusion probably prefers to think of it as business as usual.

The man may have a Range Rover and a yacht but he will find those hard to trade in for an ounce of character.

Related posts:

1. Bjorgolfur & Bjorgolfur Thor Personally Responsible For Billions
2. Bjorgolfur and Son Ignite Civil War
3. Bjorgolfur Bankrupt And Then Some
4. I Am Saved
5. The Money Train