Reykjavík Grapevine - 24.09.2010, Side 6

6
The Reykjavík Grapevine
Issue 15 — 2010
Opinion | Íris ErlingsdóttirNews | Politics
This summer's special income/tax is-
sue of the Icelandic business magazine
Frjáls Verzlun is at once a bottomless
source of nauseating news and a testa-
ment to the pervasive incompetence and disgrace-
ful cowardice of Iceland’s political class. The mag-
azine reveals that the con artists who bankrupted
the nation were in 2009—the year following the
collapse brought about by their spectacular inepti-
tude, greed, and grandiosity—pulling in salaries
like 2007 had never ended. The former CEO of
Glitnir bank, Lárus Welding, received in 2009
over $3.000 per day—per day (which is a consider-
ably higher amount than many public employees
make per month after decades of work) for... for
what? The magazine lists him as “Glitnir‘s CEO.”
Welding is in familiar company; most all of his
bank buddies co-populate the obscene-salary list
with him.
After they've squandered the nation’s wealth,
devastated its institutions, and ruined its repu-
tation for generations, it is truly revolting to see
these prosperity butchers still making millions,
and that after Icelandic taxpayers having had to
deliver first aid to their bruised and bloody handi-
work.
Why these incompetents are still receiving
obscene payments from the state-rescued banks
is absolutely mind-boggling. They’re hardly be-
ing rewarded for primo performance on the job.
Is it so much more difficult for the politicians to
tell their buddies at the banks—as they have the
labour movement—that contracts cannot be kept
because there is “no money”? How about simply
telling them that, considering their rotten job per-
formance, their employment contracts are null
and void ipso facto? How about demanding that
they return the “bonuses” they paid themselves for
their fine feats? How about slapping them with a
few executive penalties, for countless violations of
Icelandic law? The counting house lords at least
have cash—which is more than can be said about
their victims—to pay them.
According to FV, eight employees of the banks’
marketing departments receive monthly salaries
of over one million ISK, which is remarkable gen-
erosity for an industry that is considered overtly
bloated in addition to having bankrupted a whole
country. Equally astounding is the fact that most
of these people have worked at the banks for years!
I wonder if these employees are the same ones re-
sponsible for the “rapacious marketing” discussed
in the Black Report: “Countless examples exist
of how people were manipulated into doing busi-
ness... In some cases these are seniors who seem
to have been deceived and defrauded and feel they
have been humiliated in their twilight years.” And
regarding the marketing of the money market ac-
counts: “The Report seriously criticizes many of
their [the accounts’] aspects... marketing to the
public.” It was difficult for “...individuals to real-
ize the increased investment risk since the infor-
mation from the banks was at best deceptive [...]
When then the banks are all promoting the same
deceptions, it is even more difficult for people to
get correct/reliable information.”
How wonderful to know that the people behind
these kinds of “marketing efforts” are still sitting
firmly in the banks that Icelandic taxpayers res-
cued with their blood money. I wonder if Stein-
grímur [Sigfússon, Minister of Finance] knows
about this. Last February he said he believed that
salaries of the banks’ resolution committee mem-
bers were “completely at odds with the current re-
ality, what workers in general have to live with [...] I
believe it is right and [the administration’s] obliga-
tion to look at this and consider if the government
can somehow, via the FME and the ministries of
finance and business, or the state in its position
as a creditor, ensure that society’s salary decisions
in general are in line with today’s reality, not the
past.”
I’m still waiting for the administration to take
action. But I’m not holding my breath. This ad-
ministration was elected to clean up after and in
the banks. For the former task they’ve made the
public pay, and at the latter, they’ve utterly failed.
When it comes to taking on Iceland’s failed finan-
cial sector and its criminal class, this administra-
tion is no different from its right wing colleagues.
However, while Icelandic voters can be forgiven for
being frustrated over that fact, it is truly depress-
ing to see that over a third of them believe that the
only solution to the country’s nightmarish mess is
to replace the politicians currently in charge with
the ones who created it.
“Meet the new boss,
same as the old
boss…”
Does Money Make
The Independence
Party Go Round?
Iceland | Statistics
For some reason, support for the In-
dependence Party has oddly been on
the rise ever since they purportedly
brought about Iceland’s downfall. Well,
to get to the bottom of it, we decided
to follow the money. Here you have
people’s general economic outlook
graphed along side support for Ice-
land’s Independence party. Starting in
2001, the Expectations Index begins a
steady ascent indicating that people
are feeling pretty good about their
economic outlook. At the same time,
the Independence Party is enjoying
good support. Well, that’s a no-brainer.
Then, in May 2007, Icelanders re-
alize the economy smells fishy and
the Expectations Index begins a rapid
descent, bottoming out in November
2008. Okay, so Iceland’s banks default,
the stock market crashes, and people
lose a lot of money. Icelanders aren’t
too positive about their future eco-
nomic well-being and they aren’t too
thrilled with their government either.
Well, that’s also a no-brainer. Inter-
estingly though, by November, just
one month after the crash, it seems
people are already starting to look up.
Perhaps at that point things were so
bad there really was no way to go, but
up. But, what’s more interesting is that
support for the Independence Party is
also looking up. Hmmm…
Check out an interactive graph at www.data-
market.com (short link: www.url.is/41e)
FACTS. INSIGHT. BEAUTY.
0
50
100
150
200
Epectation ind x
2010200920082007200620052004200320022001
20
30
40
50
20
30
40
50
XD
Expectation index vs. support for the Independence Party
Source: Capacent and DataMarket
Support for the Indepence Party (in percentage, left axis)
Expectation Index (right axis)
The CRAZY statistics come from our cool friends at DataMarket.
They've got an almost endless amount of sexy data, free for all, at www.datamarket.com.
Also check out www.grapevine.is/statistics for interactive graphs and other statistics!
ANNA ANDERSEN
PáLL HILMARSSON
Following Iceland’s financial meltdown,
a Special Investigative Committee
was commissioned to dig around for
evidence of foul play. Nearly two years
later, on April 12 of this year, the dili-
gent committee handed over a heavy-
duty 2.000-page report containing their
findings.
A Parliamentary Review Committee
chaired by Left Green Atli Gíslason im-
mediately went to work on evaluating
those findings with the goal of coming
up with lessons learned from the gov-
ernment’s participation in the financial
collapse, suggesting legal changes to
prevent another economic collapse,
and determining whether any ministers
failed to fulfill their ministerial duties, a
legally punishable crime.
After reviewing the evidence, ex-
pert opinion and feedback from the
ministers themselves, the majority of
the committee recommended that four
former ministers, whose names appear
prominently in the investigative report,
should be charged with failing to meet
their responsibilities, specifically be-
tween February 2008 and the crash.
The implicated ministers are former
Prime Minister Geir Haarde, former
Minister of Foreign Affairs Ingibjörg
Sólrún Gísladóttir, former Minister of
Finance Árni Mathiesen, and former
Minister of Business Affairs Björgvin
G. Sigurðsson. However, a minority of
the committee disagrees with charg-
ing Sigurðsson and has put forward
a separate recommendation to press
charges against only the three minis-
ters.
MINISTERIAL RESPONSIBILITy
ExAMINED
According to Article 14 of Iceland’s
Constitution, ministers are account-
able for all executive acts established
by law. Alþingi may impeach ministers
on account of their official acts and the
Court of Impeachment (Landsdómur)
has competence in such cases.
The law referred to is No. 3/1963,
also known as “the law about minis-
terial responsibility” (Lög um ráðher-
raábyrgð). The law essentially states
that ministers can be held responsible
not only for taking actions that put the
country in foreseeable danger, but also
for not taking appropriate actions to
prevent the country from such danger.
In their proposals to Alþingi, the
committee details how the three or
four aforementioned ministers respec-
tively broke this law. For instance, the
committee says they are all guilty of
dropping the ball on the Icesave issue
by failing to ensure that Landsbanki’s
Icesave branch be transferred to a sub-
sidiary whereby its depositors would
have been insured by Britain.
Furthermore, the committee says
they are all guilty of neglecting to hold
meetings to discuss the dangerous size
of the banks, and the ramifications of
this, despite the Central Bank Board
of Governors briefing them about it on
February 7, 2008. Even if the crash was
inevitable by 2008, the allegation is that
the ministers failed to take any action to
minimize its damage.
TRIAL By COuRT Of IMPEACH-
MENT
If Alþingi agrees to formally press
charges against the three or four minis-
ters, they will be tried by a special Court
of Impeachment, which has never been
called upon since it was written into the
Constitution in 1905.
Given that there’s no precedence
for this in Iceland, it’s not surprising that
the whole affair is generating a lot of
controversy. Some argue the laws are
simply too antiquated and violate the
former ministers’ human rights, such
as the right to appeal, which is not pos-
sible in this court. Others point out that
the ministers, whose job description
entails reviewing existing laws, never
had any qualms about them until now.
Nonetheless, if called upon, the
court will convene as a fifteen-person
body, including five Supreme Court
justices, the Reykjavík district judge, a
University of Iceland professor in con-
stitutional law, and eight MPs who are
selected by their peers in Alþingi every
six years. The current MPs were se-
lected in 2005, incidentally during Geir
Haarde’s heyday.
The court will then decide whether
any number of the accused minister’s is
guilty, in which case the ministers could
face fines or serve up to two years be-
hind bars. For the time being, however,
the issue is stalled in Alþingi. Prime
Minister Jóhanna Sigurðardóttir has
expressed doubts about the process
and others are having a difficult time
taking on the responsibility of press-
ing charges against their colleagues.
What’s going to happen next is unclear.
Minister Malpractice f-u-N!!!
Government ministers, not the church ministers this time.
ANNA ANDERSEN
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