Former Icelandic bank bosses jailed

BBC News, 12 December 2013

Four former bosses from the Icelandic bank Kaupthing have been sentenced to between three and five years in prison.

They are the former chief executive, the chairman of the board, one of the majority owners and the chief executive of the Luxembourg branch.

The four were accused of concealing the fact that a Qatari investor bought a stake in the firm with money lent by the bank itself.

He bought a 5.1% stake during the financial crisis in 2008.

The four sentenced are Hreidar Mar Sigurdsson the former chief executive, Sigurdur Einarsson, former chairman of the board, Olafur Olafsson, one of the majority owners and Magnus Gudmundsson the former chief executive of the Luxembourg branch.

They were also made to pay their own legal costs for the case, which amount to millions of pounds.

There were four charges all relating to the purchase of the shares by Sheikh Al Thani from Qatar.

The prosecutor said the deal had influenced the bank's share price. He also said the loans provided for the deal were illegal.