Executives at Collapsed Iceland Bank Jailed for Fraud

Executives at Collapsed Iceland Bank Jailed for Fraud

REYKJAVIK (Reuters) - Two former executives at an Icelandic bank which
collapsed in the 2008 financial meltdown were sentenced to jail on
Friday for fraud which led to a 53 million euro loss, in the first major
trial of Icelandic bankers linked to the crisis.


All three of the small North Atlantic island's top banks collapsed in
quick succession in October 2008 due to big debts incurred during a
rapid overseas expansion.

Glitnir was the first to fall after the collapse of Lehman Brothers caused international credit markets to freeze up.

A Reykjavik court sentenced Glitnir's former chief executive, Larus
Welding, and former head of corporate finance, Gudmundur Hjaltason, each
to nine months in jail, of which six months were suspended for two
years. They had denied the charges.

Prosecutors said the two approved a loan to a company which owned shares
in Glitnir so that the company could in turn repay a debt to Morgan
Stanley.

The decision, taken outside the regular decision-making process, meant
Glitnir was too exposed to the company and cost the bank at least 53.7
million euros (43 million pounds), the prosecution said.

The sentence was less than the jail terms of at least five years
demanded by Iceland's special prosecutor, who is looking into alleged
wrongdoing connected to the crisis.

"We have a conviction, which is of course the main thing," prosecutor
Holmsteinn Sigurdsson told reporters outside the courtroom when asked
whether he was disappointed with the length of the sentence.

The special prosecutor is also looking into alleged wrongdoing linked to
the collapse of the other two former top banks, Landsbanki and
Kaupthing.



Source:-
http://www.nytimes.com/reuters/2012/12/28/business/28reuters-iceland-crisis.html?_r=0