RSS feed from Icelandreview.com
Icelandreview.com on your mobile (Nokia)
The Special Prosecutors’ Office has filed charges in the so-called Al-Thani case, which pertains to the purchase of a five percent share in Kaupthing Bank in late September 2008, merely two weeks before the banking system’s collapse, vísir.is reports.
Q Iceland Finance, the holding company of Sheikh Mohammed Bin Khalifa Al-Thani, was initially said to have bought a 5.01 percent share in Kaupthing but later it was revealed that Kaupthing itself financed the majority of the purchase. The case has been under investigation ever since the collapse, or more than three years.
According to a statement released at the time of the transaction, Q Iceland Finance bought a total of 37.1 million shares at the rate of ISK 690 per share.
Former president of Kaupthing, Hreiðar Már Sigurðsson, former chairman of Kaupthing, Sigurður Einarsson, former president of Kaupthing Luxembourg, Magnús Guðmundsson, and Ólafur Ólafsson, who was the bank’s second largest shareholder, are the accused, vísir.is also reports.
The first two have been charged with mandate fraud, Magnús for participating in mandate fraud and Ólafur for participating in mandate fraud but as a reserve cover up and money laundering.
In addition, all four have been charged with market abuse, i.e. for falsely making it appear that a known Qatari investor had submitted funds to purchase the share and been fully accountable for the financial risk it entailed.
Sigurður and Hreiðar are believed to have organized the offenses.
ÁA
This year’s free English-language travel guide Around Iceland has been released, the 38th year in a row. The guide is also published in Icelandic and German and is distributed in 100,000 copies to the country’s most frequented tourist destinations.
more
An international group of divers recently traveled to Þingvellir National Park in Southwest Iceland to explore this unique diving destination. A Polish guide, Michail Zinieuricz, who works for the DIVE.is, led the team of North Americans and a French couple.
more
Iceland’s northernmost island is no longer one island. In a recent surveillance excursion to the Kolbeinsey, the Icelandic Coast Guard discovered that the island is now divided in two.
more
Iceland is among the top five OECD-countries where immigrants help to boost the economy and increase nation-wide production by approximately 1 percent, according to a new report from the OECD.
more
The 2013 June-July issue of Iceland Review is out. Themed ‘We Are Young’ the magazine celebrates the arrival of summer by interviewing young energetic Icelanders who excel in art, sports, business and politics—and Sigmundur Davíð Gunnlaugsson, the youngest PM in the republic’s history and the world’s youngest ruling state leader. Click here to take a look at a selection of the current issue and here to subscribe to the magazine.
more
REVIEWS
amiina
The road to Höfn, a 1,690-person harbor town by the fjord Hornafjörður, is lined with reindeer. Whole herds of the wild horned animals rest peacefully on withered pastures, grace next to sheep and horses and bounce along the road. Soon, Vatnajökull, Europe’s largest glacier and the region’s biggest attraction, comes into view. Looming over Höfn, its outlet glaciers flow down from the mountains on which the bright white icecap rests.
more
Sin Fang will celebrate the release of his third album with a release concert in Iðnó on June 12. Flowers was released in February by Morr Music and has been well received by music enthusiasts and critics alike. The concert will be supported by Vök, this year’s winners of the Icelandic Music Experiments.
more
){kind=link}