Wicelandic Post

Every day brings a new queasy revelation in the country which the Germans now call Crisisland. Today I met someone who is leaving the country, relieved to get away from all the negativity that has infiltrated every thread of society. Another friend said he foresaw the future in the same way. Occasionally you will find a happy camper who is trying to keep head above water but the mood mostly turns grim once people get past the how are you’s.

Tonight Channel 2 and the State Broadcasting Channel reported that according to secret reports from Ernst & Young and information from the collapsed banks, billions were transferred to tax-havens such as Tortola, Luxembourg, Hong Kong, Bermuda, Cayman Islands and the British Virgin Islands by top management and owners of the doomed banks as they were being taken over by the state. As the Icelandic people stare the abyss of IceSave in the eye, it is infuriating to hear that Bjorgolfur Gudmundsson, Bjorgolfur Thor Bjorgolfsson, Magnus Thorsteinsson and Karl Wernersson transferred billions of ISK away from the storm and into new currencies and made even more once the ISK went into free-fall. Apparantly they used Straumur Burdaras bank to create hundreds of new accounts abroad for several top customers. This began on the same day the state declared it would take over 75% in Glitnir.

And Glitnir’s top brass, Bjarni Armannsson, Larus Welding and Einar Sveinsson were active transferring their own money away from the bank in September. Larus Welding removed 318 million ISK from his account and then a transfer abroad was made in his wife’s name for 325 million ISK. Bjarni Armannsson, moved 262 million ISK in seperate transfers into funds and to Nordea Bank in Norway. Einar Sveinsson transferred 170 million ISK to Norway days before the bank was nationalized.

So the rats jumped ship like everyone suspected and we can expect this list to grow longer day by day. But the thought of these people “rebuilding” Iceland in the future might be just enough to convince more and more people to leave their country behind.