Advertisement

We need your help now

Support from readers like you keeps The Journal open.

You are visiting us because we have something you value. Independent, unbiased news that tells the truth. Advertising revenue goes some way to support our mission, but this year it has not been enough.

If you've seen value in our reporting, please contribute what you can, so we can continue to produce accurate and meaningful journalism. For everyone who needs it.

Brynjar Gauti/AP/Press Association Images
Iceland

Iceland ex-PM convicted on 1 of 5 bank charges

Geir Haarde has been found guilty of one of the charges against him – however he will face no punishment and the state will pay his expenses in defending the case.

A SPECIAL COURT has found a former prime minister guilty of one charge related to the nation’s banking crisis but cleared him of four other charges.

The special court announced Monday that Geir Haarde will face no punishment, and the state will pay his expenses in defending the case.

Haarde, who led the government from 2006 to 2009, was the first government leader anywhere to face criminal prosecution because of the global banking crisis.

Haarde’s guilty charge related to not keeping government ministers adequately informed through formal meetings.

The 15 members of the Landsdomur, a special court founded in 1905 to deal with criminal charges against Icelandic government ministers, returned a 500-page verdict, but only a brief summary was announced in public.

The panel consisted of 15 people, including five supreme court justices, a district court president, a constitutional law professor and eight other who were chosen by parliament.

The BBC reports that Haarde described the verdict as “absurd”, telling reporters:

It is obvious that the majority of the judges have found themselves pressed to come up with a guilty verdict on one point, however minor, to save the neck of the parliamentarians who instigated this.

Author
Associated Foreign Press
Your Voice
Readers Comments
7
    Submit a report
    Please help us understand how this comment violates our community guidelines.
    Thank you for the feedback
    Your feedback has been sent to our team for review.