Democracy Gone Astray

Democracy, being a human construct, needs to be thought of as directionality rather than an object. As such, to understand it requires not so much a description of existing structures and/or other related phenomena but a declaration of intentionality.
This blog aims at creating labeled lists of published infringements of such intentionality, of points in time where democracy strays from its intended directionality. In addition to outright infringements, this blog also collects important contemporary information and/or discussions that impact our socio-political landscape.

All the posts here were published in the electronic media – main-stream as well as fringe, and maintain links to the original texts.

[NOTE: Due to changes I haven't caught on time in the blogging software, all of the 'Original Article' links were nullified between September 11, 2012 and December 11, 2012. My apologies.]

Friday, December 13, 2013

Iceland Sends Four Bank Bosses to the Slammer

The onetime CEO of Iceland’s Kaupthing bank, one Hreidar Mar Sigurdsson, is going to jail for five and a half years for his part in his firm’s downfall—which also helped his country’s economy bottom out in 2008. He’ll be in good company.

Three other former high-level Kaupthing execs, including ousted board Chairman Sigurdur Einarsson, will join Sigurdsson for shorter stints in prison for aiding in the cover-up of a sham deal with a Qatari financier that sank the firm late that year.

Although the BBC pointed out Thursday that the foursome’s punishment amounts to “the heaviest sentences for financial fraud” in the country’s history, it represents a relatively breezy penalty compared with the mass-scale wreckage that ensued.

Still, it adds up to many more days behind bars than certain of their deserving American counterparts are likely to face. Here’s more from the BBC:

    The court gave Olafur Olafsson, one of the majority owners three years and Magnus Gudmundsson the former chief executive of the Luxembourg branch, three and a half years.
    None of them were in court for the decision but it is expected that they will appeal.

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

    The special prosecutor, Olafur Hauksson, said the deal had influenced the bank’s share price. He also said the loans provided for the deal were illegal.

    Mr Hauksson told the BBC that there was still another, bigger case against Kaupthing Bank ongoing, in which it is accused of market manipulation. It is due to come to court at the end of January.

Original Article
Source: truthdig.com/
Author: Kasia Anderson.

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