Iceland review - 2016, Page 21

ICELAND REVIEW 19
PANAMA PAPERS PROBLEMS PERSIST
Containing over 11 million documents, this spring’s
Panama Papers leak is taking some time to sift through
and new details are coming to light. After the initial
political fallout in Iceland, it has since emerged that
some of the country’s best-known businesspeople have
had extensive offshore financial dealings. Father and son
tycoons Björgólfur Guðmundsson and Björgólfur Thor
Björgólfsson, for example, are reportedly linked to over
50 offshore companies. While this is not illegal, it does
provide them with wide scope for secrecy. One of the com-
panies mentioned—a Tortola-registered business called
Ranpod Ltd.—was established just months before the 2008
banking crash and the subsequent declaration of personal
bankruptcy from Björgólfur senior, who was the largest
shareholder in Landsbankinn before it collapsed.
MÝVATN MIRACLE
North Iceland’s famous Lake Mývatn is under extreme
environmental pressure from tourism, industry and poor
planning; so much so that those calling for urgent action
are using terms like “major crisis.” A bright spot has
emerged, however, with the discovery of a few young
marimo lake balls (charmingly called kúluskítur, or ‘ball
shit’ in Icelandic) which were previously thought extinct
in Mývatn—one of only two lakes in the world which sup-
ports them.
WOLF, SON OF EAGLE
Good old-fashioned Icelandic names like the above-men-
tioned ‘Wolf, Son of Eagle’ (Úlfur Arnarson) could be a
thing of the past, language purists warn. The dire pre-
diction comes in response to a proposed law to remove
nearly all naming restrictions and allow people to call their
children whatever they want to, presumably including
Kevin, without the prior approval of a naming committee.
Patronymics and matronymics would also cease to be com-
pulsory. Public opinion is generally in favor of the change.
UNWILLING WORKERS UNVEILED
Trafficking is one of the world’s biggest human rights
issues today and according to the 2016 Global Slavery
Index there are an estimated 400 people living and
working in Iceland against their will, or under unreg-
ulated illegal conditions. Following the surprising
discovery of three women in forced labor in the tiny
town of Vík, a deaf Russian woman is also believed to
have been a victim after being charged USD 1,000
for a work permit she neither needed nor received, in
order to sell charity lottery tickets. Another woman
has come forward, after being paid a tiny wage to
work overly long hours at a Reykjavík hotel and share
a bedroom with her boss; under the false threat of
deportation. (Read more about trafficking in Iceland
in our interview with the National Commissioner of
the Icelandic Police on page 72).
PHOTO BY ZOË ROBERT.
BY ALËX ELLIOTT.
PHOTOS BY PÁLL STEFÁNSSON AND ZOË ROBERT.