Jón brought the case after the Data Protection Authority requested information from the Central Bank of Iceland about how personal information on currency purchases was being dealt with; including how the information was processed, who had access to the information, how securely it was held and how long it would be held for.

In a Fréttablaðið interview in October, Jón said: “The Data Protection Authority allowed the Central Bank of Iceland to look at international transfers by credit card made by everyone in Iceland. That was done with no sort of minimum or provisos. I believe that that is a breach of my rights to permit unreasonable prying into my personal affairs.”

He added that he did not want “Big Brother” sticking its nose into all his business and said he would start proceedings against the governor of the Central Bank and other people to draw attention to the matter.

It is now clear that that will not happen — but it is clear, on the other hand, that Jón has to pay ISK 100,000 (EUR 617) to the Data Protection Authority in legal fees.

The general rule in Iceland when pension funds lose money is either that lower pension payments to members will follow in the future, or that  higher employee contributions are demanded in the present to close the gap; but there are exceptions, as the LSR case demonstrates.

RÚV reports that LSR is a state-guaranteed pension fund, meaning that if it loses money the taxpayer will bear the cost of replacing it. According to a report into the pension funds, LSR lost around ISK 100 billion (EUR 621.3 million) in the financial crash and the State has not helped the situation – having not always paid its employer’s contribution to the fund as it should.

The pension fund has a massive shortfall, according to economist Ólafur Ísleifsson in a new article for a political studies magazine. He declares that the bill will fall on the Icelandic public to pay back, and a parliamentary answer from the Minister of Finance backs this up: LSR needs around ISK 7.8 billion (EUR 48.4 million) per year for the next 40 years in order to get back up to zero.

There are many indications that LSR’s losses could have been much smaller if its managers had been more careful, the research report into the pension funds states.

The bus trip, organised by Allt åt Alla (Everything for Everyone), aims to debunk the myth that Sweden is a classless nation by driving through the capital’s most densely populated area, Fisksätra, before taking their passengers to Saltsjöbaden to see how the other half live.

Not all of Saltsjöbaden’s well-to-do residents are happy about being a tourist attraction, however, and one has apparently filed an official complaint with the local police.

Not feeling much sympathy for the well-to-do, Ulla Krogh of Nacka Police told the local newspaper, Näcka-Värmdö Posten, that “Anyone is free to organise something like this”.

Highlights of the tour include a visit to the Grand Hotel, an ogle at the sea views from “Oscar’s” house, which featured in the comedy series Solsidan, and an audience with Rolf, the owner of Sweden’s most expensive home.

On its website, Allt åt Alla describes itself as a “revolutionary organisation” with an aim of developing a hate of the class system in sightseers. The Saltsjöbaden tours are proving popular and selling out quickly, according to the group.

This means that the cost of fuel weighs ever-heavier on household budgets and that ISK 5,000 gets a driver less far than ever.

Nobody in Iceland (or indeed the rest of the world) can have failed to notice fuel prices rising constantly; but many may have forgotten that a litre of petrol cost ISK 112.7 at the beginning of 2007 and now costs ISK 242.9 on average. Diesel has gone up even more; or from ISK 113 to ISK 253.5 – which is ten krónur more than a litre of petrol.

This article deliberately does not convert krónur into euros, because the króna exchange rate has changed so much in five years due to the financial crisis. Instead there is a comparison.

RÚV reports on a hypothetical car which uses ten litres of petrol for every 100 kilometres driven. On 15,000 kilometres per year, that means an annual fuel bill of ISK 364,320 now instead of ISK 169,000 at the beginning of 2007…115 percent different.

At the beginning of 2007 ISK 5,000 of petrol in the above car would get the driver from Reykjavík to Hornafjörður (Höfn). In 2009 that money got the driver to Fagurhólmsmýri and in 2010 the car would have made it to Kirkjubæjarklaustur. Now ISK 5,000 only gets the hypothetical car as far as Vík í Mýrdal. Which is half as far as five years ago. See a map of south Iceland here.

The news on the unexpected beneficiaries of the law comes from figures released yesterday by the Ministry of Economic Affairs. The ministry has recently come under the control of Left Green party leader Steingrímur J. Sigfússon.

The total debt concessions given to investment and holdings companies during the time period amounts to ISK 170 billion (EUR 1.07 billion).

Meanwhile during the same period retail & service companies and fishing companies had 60 percent of their debts forgiven: ISK 94 billion in the retail & service sector and ISK 13 billion in seafood.

Construction and contracting companies also had 60 percent debt relief and the figure was 50 percent among real estate firms. Companies in other fields had 47 percent of debt written off, RÚV reports.

The figures were made by a dedicated surveillance committee which organises debt restructuring and collects and publishes data and information on the financial restructuring of companies whose outstanding debts are over a billion krónur.

Officials for the nation said last week that they would do everything in their power to cut costs at a time when Europe is facing unprecedented amounts of debt. One money-saving measure mentioned was serving tap water rather than expensive bottled water at functions.

The country plans to spend just EUR 35 million during its term, compared with Hungary and Poland, which both spent substantially more in 2011 at EUR 85 million and EUR 110 million, respectively. France spent the highest ever amount during its six-month term, with a massive final bill of EUR 171 million.

Nicolai Wammen, the Danish European affairs minister, told AFP reporters on, “It’s the last time you’ll see these bottles of water. Next they will be replaced by the good pure Danish tap water.” He added, “We’re very cost efficient in Denmark. We want to have an efficient presidency at low cost.”

Wammen also said Denmark would be cutting the amount spent on gifts for ministers and dignitaries. When asked by reporters of the most expensive gift given so far, he replied that it was a relatively thrifty EUR 60 alarm clock.

Denmark, which was handed its turn for the rotating EU presidency on 1st January, also says it will reduce the number of meetings held in order to keep costs low. Hosting meetings for EU ministers is one of the roles associated with the European presidency.

The sting, which was carried out by Skat to address issues of payroll fraud within the baking industry, found that 43 out of 47 employees at 24 different bakeries were illegal workers. Of that 91 percent, 15 of the naughty kneaders were also claiming benefits.

According to broadcaster DR, it was the employees’ half-baked excuses that riled the tax collectors most. “One explained that he had just come down to the bakery to bake a cake for his son, whose birthday it was,” said Skat manager Lisbet Hedelund. “Another had apparently just popped in to make a batch of breakfast rolls for his family.”

The authority concluded that as many as four out of five bakery workers are not permitted to be employed in Denmark. Erik Ellitsgaard from the country’s bakers’ guild, however, was quick to steer the blame away from any of its members.

“It’s incredibly destructive – not just for the bakers, but also for Danish society,” Ellitsgaard told DR. “But we very much want to have a closer dialogue with Skat, because that’s not how we do things,” he added.

Because of the ongoing capital controls in Iceland it will be impossible for the creditors to change their krónur onshore and doing so offshore would yield potentially extremely poor exchange rates. Fréttablaðið sources claim that the investors are being offered a way out of the problem if they invest their money within Iceland for a pre-determined amount of time.

Creditor representatives have met with ministers, MPs and other Icelandic parties trying to identify good investment opportunities for the foreign-owned krónur within Iceland. The potential investments apparently include the purchase of entire companies and sources claim there is an especially positive attitude to investments in the energy sector.

In addition to the expected rush of Icelandic krónur to be paid to bank creditors but essentially locked inside Iceland, there are also ISK 410 billion stuck offshore. The Central Bank of Iceland last month presented its proposal to repatriate the offshore funds by offering the owners of the money (which is of very little use at the moment outside Iceland) to invest it in Iceland on very favourable terms. To take advantage of the offer, the investors would need to match their krónur 50/50 with foreign currency and commit to their investments for a minimum of five years.

As has been widely discussed on IceNews and elsewhere, there is an imbalance between foreign currency/investment interests stuck in Iceland due to the exchange controls and Icelandic currency stuck overseas for the same reason. That imbalance will need to be addressed before the capital controls can be lifted and the above two methods are seen by those concerned as ways of achieving that. It is also hoped that the flow of investment will help ease the lack of inward investment caused directly by the currency controls and that returns for the foreign investors will be positive so that they keep their money in Iceland by choice once the controls are lifted.

The bodies of the 72 year-old former surgeon, his 68 year-old wife and a 60 year-old nurse, all from Savonlinna, southeast Finland, were found near the city of João Pessoa on Friday 2nd December.

The couple were in the process of selling their house but had run into difficulties, according to reports. “Differences in income are great, and it has led to a situation in which they did not have a caretaker for the house in the summer,” a former colleague of the man told Helsingin Sanomat.

All valuables were left with the bodies, suggesting that the motive for the killings was not robbery. According to Helsingin Sanomat, they may be connected to the financial arrangements of the impending sale.

A local man is thought to have been struggling to find the money for the purchase, but the couple apparently told a friend earlier in the year that they thought the buyer to be a trustworthy person.

The National Bureau of Investigation and the Finnish Embassy will now receive reports from the local police about the progress of the investigation.

The parliamentary voting went on for three hours as MPs continued to wrangle over specific details. The country’s Minister of Finance said that negative economic forecasts for post-crash Iceland were wrong and that next year’s budget bill reflects one of the biggest economic recoveries in any Western country, RÚV reports.

Despite being hailed as surprisingly painless by government parties, the budget bill is still marked by cutbacks and tax rises — something which opposition parties criticised strongly.

Kristján Þór Júlíusson, the Independence Party representative on the Alþingi Finance Committee told parliamentarians that with the budget bill the government is not keeping its promises and that the bill taxes and cuts down instead of conserving and building up.

In the final vote on the finished bill, 31 MPs voted in favour, three voted against and 23 abstained. Six members did not vote or were not present. The annual budget bill is unique in Iceland because all parties agree it has to be passed and enacted in December and the final vote is usually massively in favour; but that belies the months of argument and the dozens of votes on individual matters which lead up to the final bill. MPs are expected to vote along party lines when debating the budget and as a result all opposition propositions were rejected this year — although some by a tiny margin.

Opposition parties decided to take the finance minister’s words literally, saying that if there really are brighter times round the corner then the budget should start increasing funding and easing the tax burden right away. The opposition parties say, on the other hand, that the bill reeks of broken promises and that the ‘Nordic welfare government’ is attacking its beloved Nordic welfare system full force. Independence Party leader Bjarni Benediktsson said that the bill leaves no hope for brighter times.

In retort the chairman of the parliamentary finance committee, Sigríður Ingibjörg Ingadóttir, said that the bill shows the governing parties’ continuing determination to make the best of a difficult situation.

Minister of Finance Steingrímur J. Sigfússon applauded his government’s strict finances and its ISK 20 billion turnaround, saying that the treasury will be in surplus again next year for the first time since the crash. “We are in a tiny group of OECD countries reporting these sort of figures in our budget right now,” he said.