The former
boss of Icelandic bank Landsbanki has been sentenced to 12-month imprisonment
by a court in Reykjavik for manipulating the market.
Deutsche Welle, 19 Nov 2014
Sigurjon
Arnason, 48, was convicted of manipulating the bank's share price and deceiving
investors, creditors and the authorities in the dying days of the bank between
Sept. 29 and Oct. 3, 2008.
Two other
former executives of the bank were sentenced to nine months with three months
served over the same allegations. All pleaded innocent to the charges.
"This
sentence is a big surprise to me as I did not nothing wrong," Sigurjon
Arnason told news agency Reuters after the sentencing. He and his attorney had
not yet decided whether to appeal the verdict in the Supreme Court, Arnason
added.
Iceland's
banks had gone on an international buying spree in the early 2000s fuelled by
cheap foreign loans.
But the
global financial crisis in 2008 froze credit markets and Iceland's banks
quickly foundered. Landsbanki was one of three banks that racked up $75 billion
(59.8 billion euros) in debt before collapsing and crashing the country's
economy in 2008.
The fallout
from the 2008 crisis continues to this day. Earlier this week, Landsbanki and
its successor Landsbankinn agreed to extend a deadline to restructure bonds to
the end of the year. If a deal is struck, it will help the government lift
capital controls which were imposed due to the crisis.
sri/cjc (AFP, Reuters)
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