Writer Illugi Jokulsson recently posted an open letter to the first Icelandic dollar billionaire Bjorgolfur Thor on his website, asking him whether he would do anything in his power to cover what would remain of Iceland’s commitments because of IceSave once Landsbankinn’s assets will be sold.
Bjorgolfur Thor and his father made his money in post-Soviet Russia and was handed Landsbankinn on a silver plate by the Independent Party. The backbone aqcuired with owning his own bank, allowed him to invest heavily through leveraged buyouts in Iceland and abroad, especially Eastern Europe. He became the first Icelander on Forbes’ rich-list and although he says he wasn’t on the board of Landsbankinn, he seemed quite busy meeting with Geir Haarde and David Oddson in the weeks up to and around the economic crash.
Bjorgolfur answered Illugi today and says there isn’t a day that goes by without him thinking about “this IceSave mess”, and that he sincerely wants to do what he can to avoid the IceSave debt hitting the Icelandic public.
“On the other hand, I have this rule of not promising anything I cannot keep. That goes for this situation as well”.
Bjorgolfur says that Landsbankinn was not the center of his empire (maybe not, but did he ever use its clout to open doors). He was never on the board (why was he the one dealing with the government in the last days of Landsbankinn then?), and “like other shareholders he trusted the management of the bank for his equity and the operations of the bank”.
Bjorgolfur says that since October 6, the bank has been in the care of the government. “I allow myself to hope that sooner than later, it will be clear why things developed this way, who was responsible for what, who wasn’t careful and who were sleeping at the guard, whether laws were broken and also whether I “benefited” from the “pure genius that IceSave was supposed to be”.
He concludes his answer with a reminder that he has said before that he wants to do his part to help Iceland turn itself around economically. “The best I can offer is the possibility of foreign investors participating in the rebuilding of the Icelandic commerce. I am working on this at the moment. Having said this I hope that people start concentrating on the rebuilding of Iceland and I hope I can assist with others who are willing to do so. I believe that Iceland’s solutions today lie in creating assets for the future”.
So just to wrap it up; “I am not going to use any of my money. I feel bad you all are picking on me. I made a lot of money off you suckers. If I can pin the blame on others then it is all good. I am coming back soon with my friends to buy you all on a wholesale. And please stop picking on me”.
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June 23rd, 2009 → 2:07 pm @ Dadi
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