Former billionaire Björgólfur used have large or controlling stakes in Landsbanki, West Ham United, Eimskip and XL Airways, among many others; but has since been declared bankrupt following the financial crash. He made his money initially in the Russian drinks business after the fall of Communism.

Now a former colleague says he was threatened and offered bribes by Björgólfur when a contested contract between the pair in St. Petersburg ended up in court. He accuses Björgólfur of having dishonestly appropriated property and an entire factory in Russia, RÚV reports.

The partnership between Ingimar Ingimarsson and Björgólfur Guðmundsson on the Russian soft drinks market began in the early 90s. Ingimar had started a company in Russia with Bernard Lardner, called Baltic Bottling. Baltic signed a deal to purchase equipment from Gosan, which Björgólfur indirectly controlled through his Pharmco company. Björgólfur Guðmundsson sat on the board at Baltic on behalf of Pharmco; although neither he nor other staff had shares in the factory. Business was tough at first, but things soon became much easier.

In September 1995 one of the executives at Baltic was unexpectedly barred entry to the factory by armed guards and told that a change of ownership had taken place. Björgólfur had said that Ingimar Ingimarsson had sold him his share in Baltic earlier that year with a signed contract which later became highly controversial in court. The sale price was said to be half-a-million dollars — which is itself noteworthy as the firm’s annual turnover was already as high as around USD 30 million.

The Baltic Bottling shareholders’ meeting in which the sale was approved, is said to have taken place on 29th September; but no representative of the seller was present. Russia’s register of companies approved the deed nevertheless and the factory came into Björgólfur Guðmundsson’s ownership.

The precise date of the shareholders’ meeting became a hot topic later in court. Ingimar and Bernard’s lawyers claimed that Björgólfur had himself not been in St. Petersburg on the day the meeting was alleged to have taken place, as he had been seen at a football match in London.

In his book on the affair, which was released yesterday, Ingimar tells of threats and bribery attempts on Björgólfur’s behalf, whereby he is alleged to have offered some two million dollars for Ingimar to stop the court case. He apparently refused the offers.

Ingimar and Bernard went on to win their case on three judicial levels; but Ingimar Ingimarsson did not manage to get his assets back when he tried to in 1997.

Ingimar says that at that time it came to light that all the assets he had been fighting for in Russian courts for a year-and-a-half had been transferred over to another company — a company called Bravo. The disputed assets in Baltic Bottling were, therefore, beyond his reach.

Ingimar Ingimarsson was interviewed about his damning new book last night on RÚV’s Kastljós current affairs news programme.

Bravo was set up in 1996 as a brewery, which was later sold to Heineken for USD 400 million. The remains of Baltic Bottling itself were sold to Pepsi at around the same time, according to Wikipedia.

The Althingi report into the banking collapse which was released last week reveals that the British businessman Robert Tchenguiz was the banks’ biggest debtor, owing around ISK 360 billion. Olafur Olafsson was next, owing ISK 164 billion – and both of their debt burdens have doubled in euros since 2007.

Jon Asgeir Johannesson is the third biggest debtor on the list, owing the Icelandic banks ISK 126 billion. Bjorgolfur Gudmundsson owes around ISK 70 billion.

Jon Asgeir’s parents are sixth and seventh, and his wife is ninth on the list.

According to the business paper Vidskiptabladid, the owners of Landsbanki felt at the time that it was quite natural to finance the founding of the fund; but the fund was actually begun at the beginning of 2005 when Gudmundsson and his wife deposited ISK 500 million.

Fyrirtaekjabref Landsbankans was a business investment fund owned by Landsbanki. Bjorgolfur Gudmundsson was majority owner and chairman of Landsbanki at the time.

His daughter Margret died in an accident in 1989 aged just 33. Since its establishment, the Margret Bjorgolfsdottir Memorial Fund has regularly donated money to all sorts of worthy causes.

Gudmundsson is the former billionaire head of Landsbanki and only recently gave up control of West Ham United FC.

Gudmundsson and his son, Bjorgolfur Thor Bjorgolfsson were two of the most active of the Icelandic business “outvasion Vikings”.

Kaupthing’s loans to Samson are ISK 4.9 billion without interest, while the Samson’s bankruptcy specification report puts the company’s assets at ISK 5.9 billion, with interest and other costs included, according to Frettabladid sources.

The newspaper reported on 9th April (from sources within Kaupthing) that the bank had subpoenaed the Bjorgolfurs in March due to their debts. However, it is clear that the subpoena came to nothing in the end; but there is no explanation of why. Legally speaking, the father-son business duo are apparently personally responsible for the loans and if one cannot pay, the responsibility automatically falls on the other. The purchasing price of the State’s Landsbanki stake in 2002 was ISK 11.2 billion.

Finnur Sveinbjornsson, the Bank President of New Kaupthing, would not confirm to Frettabladid the status of the bank’s dealings with the pair. “The only thing I will confirm is that negotiations have been taking place on how they can close this debt.” The bank’s Chairman of the Board, Hulda Dora Styrmisdottir, would not say if she felt the Board would approve the Bjorgolfurs’ offer; but she made clear that such a decision would fall to the Board to make in the case of such a potentially big write off.

According to Frettabladid sources, the offer is seen as worthy within Kaupthing and it is thought managers will decide to send it to the Board or Directors.