Bjorgolfur Thor was handed Landsbankinn through privatization because he was supposed to have made a mint abroad and re-investing it in the Icelandic economy was seen as a positive move.
Landsbankinn’s bankruptcy within six years then turned out to be one of the biggest in history. Not just in Iceland but anywhere.
The bank’s IceSave legacy then ravaged the country, dividing it even further.
Both the bankruptcy and IceSave will cost the nation dearly for years, even decades to come.
The risk Bjorgolfur took with the bank wasn’t his own. The consequences are left with the present and future taxpayers of Iceland.
It then turned out that he did not even originally invest his own money in Landsbankinn. He borrowed half the price from the other bank to be privatized, Bunadarbankinn(later Kaupthing), whose new owners in turned borrowed the money to buy that bank from Landsbankinn.
Katrin Juliusdottir, minister of industry still thinks Bjorgolfur’s investment vehicle Novator is a suitable partner in Verne Holdings which has plans to build a data warehouse in Iceland in the next few years, an investment of $700 million.
The project as such is a wonderful one. It provides a different type of industry to tap into the Icelandic energy resources, and everyone knows foreign investment is needed.
But is it impossible for Iceland to attract foreign investment which isn’t tainted by the people who did this. Are our energy resources not attractive enough without these people being attached?
And what does the public which has seen its taxes raised, its purchasing power drop and its loans rise because of the collapse of the banks think about this venture being granted special tax breaks and incentives by the state?
On Kastljos tonight, Katrin Juliusdottir made it clear that the money involved is crucial to Iceland’s economy right now. She is probably right. But the message is a gruelling one. Iceland is so desperate that it is willing to sacrifice any morals it still has and sacrifice its self-respect for all the money it can get.
A grim message from the government.
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Robert Caulfield
8 months ago
Hey! is that a whip over there? Let me try it out on myself, maybe the pain won´t be there this time.
As Forest Gump said “Stupid is as stupid does.”
snowball
8 months ago
its obvious that the “viking raiders” must have bought the icelandic legal system. i wish for this country it will dump matthew 5:39 (If someone strikes you on the right cheek, turn to him the other also) and enable ex 21,23-25 (an eye for an eye, tooth for a tooth). unless the shit cocks are not eating their part of the soup, this country will stay an unreal place. just a thought, to some extent red guy/group is just filling the “vacuum of justice” which the legal system is not able or willing to fill.
Blubber
8 months ago
I’m dumb enough to think that the money he still hasn’t paid for the purchase of Landsbankinn is enough to seize his assets.