Europol, the pan-European police network, has started an investigation into failed Icelandic bank, Kaupthing and financial crimes police in the UK are also still working on their own investigation into the bank.
As reported on IceNews yesterday, former Kaupthing director, Hreidar Mar Sigurdsson sent a letter to Icelandic authorities harshly criticising the country’s FME financial regulator. The FME has since responded to the allegations, saying that the regulator does not pass evidence on to the Special Prosecutor without being absolutely certain of its validity. It then falls to the prosecutor to interrogate suspects – meaning that the FME was right to have not called Sigurdsson in for questioning.
Special Prosecutor, Olafur Thor Hauksson told Visir.is that he is happy with his team’s working relationship with the FME; but would not comment further on Sigurdsson’s letter.
Sigurdsson stressed in his letter that the British regulator, the FSA, has cleared him and his colleagues of any wrongdoing. However, that does not mean that the British police have done the same – and Visir.is sources now claim that Europol has started its own investigation into Kaupthing as well.
Kaupthing used to be active in international markets and generated large amounts of capital by issuing bonds in Luxembourg. The Europol investigation will look into whether financial information provided by the bank to potential bondholders was entirely accurate – or indeed, if it was deliberately misleading. To deliberately give false information in such cases is against international law. The investigation is expected to touch on many different European countries before its conclusion.
These people destroyed many family’s life savings all over the world.
These people broke up families, these people created suicides, nervous break downs and who knows what more!
People worked hard for their money, was not stolen money!
They were banks, but somehow they ended up being pyramid schemes,
because many people were helping themselves.
The law seems by far too lenient on this crowd, lock all of them up.
Prosecute everyoen of them.
They do not deserve any soft treatment.
They helped destroy the faith in banks all over the world.
I will always descourage people from doing business with banks becuase of these people.
They have helped create so much turmoil in the european economy.
Guess what? people are waking up, once bitten twice shy as the saying goes.