PRESS RELEASE FROM THE PRIME MINISTER’S OFFICE:
The Government of Iceland has decided to examine any and all possibilities of Iceland seeking redress before the European Court of Human Rights for the application by UK authorities of the Anti-Terrorism, Crime and Security Act 2001 against Landsbanki last year.
More information: http://www.iceland.org/info/news/features/nr/6450
Furthermore, the Government repeats its previous declaration of strong support for legal proceedings by Kaupthing Bank’s Resolution Committee against actions taken by the UK Financial Services Authority (FSA) on 8 October 2008, on which date the FSA took control of the operations of Singer & Friedlander, resulting in the insolvency of the parent company. The Resolution Committee has decided to bring suit, on the Bank’s behalf, against the UK authorities and enjoys the full support of the Icelandic government in its suit. This support is provided in accordance with an Act of the Icelandic parliament Althingi, adopted on 20 December [2008], authorising the Minister of Commerce to provide financial support for such litigation.
The Government of Iceland will also support possible legal action taken by the Resolution Committee of Landsbanki against UK authorities; such action, however, is not entirely subject to the same time constraints as is the suit to be brought by the Resolution Committee of Kaupthing Bank.
It should be pointed out that the Government of Iceland has obtained an opinion from the UK legal office of Lovells concerning possible legal action by the Icelandic state against UK authorities to test the legitimacy of the Landsbanki Freezing Order issued by the authorities on 8 October 2008 on the basis of this same Anti-Terrorism, Crime and Security Act. The UK legal counsel were requested to assess whether the Freezing Order could be invalidated by a UK court on the grounds that it was illegal and whether the Icelandic state could sue for damages resulting from the Freezing Order in a UK court. Legal counsel were of the opinion that there was scant possibility that the Icelandic government could have the Freezing Order invalidated by a UK court. They provided detailed grounds for this conclusion, based on legal principles and precedent in the UK, and were of the opinion that the legislation granted the UK authorities very broad authorisation to apply the provisions on freezing of assets. They were also of the opinion that there was no probability of the Icelandic state being awarded compensation by a UK court as a result of the Freezing Order. The Icelandic Attorney General and the Foreign Ministry’s expert in international law agreed with this opinion.
As a result, the Icelandic government has decided not to bring suit against the UK authorities in a UK court at this stage. As previously mentioned, however, it intends to examine exhaustively other options for international legal action, including in particular the European Court of Human Rights.
In addition, the Government of Iceland reiterates its steadfast conviction that the above-mentioned actions by the UK authorities were wrongful and unjustified, and has made a formal request to the UK authorities that the Freezing Order be cancelled.
More information: http://www.iceland.org/info/news/features/nr/6450
Iceland got what it deserved. Stick to cod fishing, let the big boys take care of the rest.
[…] A statement from the Government of Iceland (6 January 2009) said: “The government has decided not to bring suit against the UK authorities in a UK court at this stage.” However, it “has decided to examine any and all possibilities of Iceland seeking redress before the European Court of Human Rights for the application by UK authorities of the Anti-Terrorism, Crime and Security Act 2001 against Landsbanki last year” (https://www.icenews.is/index.php/2009/01/06/statement-from-the-icelandic-government-concerning-legal-…). […]
@GUS
“ANANAS, START SHOWING SOME RESPECT FOR THIS FORUM AND START POSTING COMMENTS RELATED TO THE ARTICLE POSTED BY ICENEWS.”
Fair comment GUS.
Why then – did you post the above rant at Oystein about Gaza – which has nothing to do with the article?
ANANAS, GET OVER IT AND MOVE ON, I AM DYSLEXIC, THAT IS WHY I USE CAPITALS HERE.
ANANAS, START SHOWING SOME RESPECT FOR THIS FORUM AND START POSTING COMMENTS RELATED TO THE ARTICLE POSTED BY ICENEWS.
ANANAS YOU HAVEN´T SAID ANYTHING ABOUT THE ARTICLE, YOU JUST SEEM TO COME HERE TO JUDGE ME. BUT EVERYONE IS EXPECTING FROM YOU TO POST A COMMENT RELATED TO WHAT THE ARTICLE SAYS AND OUR OPINION ABOUT IT.
PLEASE KEEP IN LINE WITH THE ARTICLE.
THANK YOU.
Gus, please stop using capitals. It’s distracting. Please find another way to get your point across.
OYSTEIN, WHY DO YOUR COUNTRY (NORWAY) AND SWEDEN, CONDEMN THE PEOPLE DIYING IN GAZA WHEN BOTH COUNTRIES ARE AMONG THE 7 BIGGEST PRODUCERS AND EXPORTERS OF WEAPON? NORWAY AND SWEDEN MAKE HUGE BENEFITS IN EXPORTING LIGHT AND HEAVY WEAPONS. WEAPONS THAT THEY KNOW ARE GOING TO KILL THOUSANDS OF INNOCENT PEOPLE, MAINLY WOMEN AND CHILDREN, AROUND THE WORLD. WEAPONS THAT ARE GOING TO DESTROY THEIR HOMES, SCHOOLS AND HOSPITALS. THEN OF THOSE BENEFITS YOU BUILD HOUSES, HOSPITALS AND SCHOOLS IN YOUR HOME COUNTRY. YOU PEOPLE ARE AMONG THE MOST TO BE BLAMED. SPECIALLY WHEN YOU COME OUT AS PEACE BUILDING COUNTRIES AND THEN CONDEMNING EVERY WAR AROUND WHEN YOU MAKE THE FIRST AND MOST IMPORTANT CONTRIBUTION TO SUCH WARS…
NORWAY AND SWEDEN CONDEMN ISRAEL WHILE PALESTINIAN BLOOD KEEPS GOING THEIR INDUSTRIES… HYPOCRITES…
Peter London – “Deposits? Your point is well made. I know Oystein has been following events for some time – but clearly seems not to have grasped the issue of honouring guarantees for depositors. The mind boggles!!
Pete – Ireland – My IceSave money (kindly returned by Gordon Brown), is now deposited in an Eire Bank – offering good returns. Yes – the Eire Government has (as the UK) had to re-capitalise the three principal banks. However, as you say – with the additional State guarantee – I remain confident that the Eire government will not run away and stick its head up its rear end as Haarde & Co. have done.
Again, Haarde and Co. now pathetically trawl the world to find a sympathetic legal system, whilst Icelanders held in a catatonic Svengali like trance, continue to tolerate a corrupt moronic government in a naïve hopefulness that things will return to normal – despite Icelands International credibility having been utterly trashed.
http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/17361044-dc5c-11dd-b07e-000077b07658.html
My business with Iceland is concluded – however – I remain transfixed by events.
Icelandic society seems a paradox – an enigma. As an outsider, one has an impression of a nation ‘strutting’ as a ‘big player’ – yet also playing the ‘little kid’ who gets picked on by big nasty bullies in the playground.
To compound the situation Iceland seems to attempting to play both roles simultaneously. Unfortunately, this results in a situation where one foot is strutting – whilst the other is limping, and the consequence is one tends to stumble round in circles!
As with any country there is a mix of nice and nasty people. I have grown fond of fishy, with his strong views – but honestly held- a hard worker- in a hard industry. Then, there are nasty little persons such as zerozen, who spill their xenophobic, racist and bigoted bile. However, I would congratulate Alex and colleagues from IceNews for their liberal moderating – it has allowed this forum to have true meaning.
I do hope you resolve matters Iceland – I would rather be friends. than not.
Peter – London. As we understand there has been decided a new deposit directive in December, which Norway “must” accept. This has been in the news (minister of Finance and others). I did not find an English source – so I can only give this http://www.na24.no/article2479070.ece .
Øystein, Norway said:
“Deposits? Norway had better guaranties than any (today about NKR 2 000 000 pro person in each bank) – and it worked 100% with the Iceland banks. Theoreticaly each company/person could have secured abpor EURO 50 000 000) EU forces us to reduce this. ”
The UK and Ireland have effective 100% guarantee’s. There is nothing that the EU can do to force EU members to reduce guarantees, never mind Norway. I don’t know where you got that strange idea from.
The UK offered to Guarantee Icesave depositors if they paid the £200million fee, Iceland refused to do this of course, preferring to go bankrupt instead and becoming liable for the 4billion euro debt.
Gus is absolutely correct
All those billionaire Icelandic thieves the President and his obscenely rich wife and her over the top parties are at the expense of elderly people who have worked all their lives and now face a bleak future.
I hope Iceland sinks into misery as it has sunk the lives of so many.
Correction – my comment was ment to Pete, Irland
Peter, it is not about deposits, but about big and very bad loans. You should know that economy is very global – In Iceland, Ireland, Norway, GB, EU, China elswhere…)
The problem is that the loans to the actual communities was illegal, and the bank new it, but they did not tell the communities. The problems came up to surface when big unknown bills came to the communities. 10,20,30… millions of dollars… But there has also been Norwegians involved in this mess.
Whats irritates me is that somebody here seems to think that the only bubble was/is on Iceland. There are more than Icelanders that need to wake up.
Deposits? Norway had better guaranties than any (today about NKR 2 000 000 pro person in each bank) – and it worked 100% with the Iceland banks. Theoreticaly each company/person could have secured abpor EURO 50 000 000) EU forces us to reduce this. This sequrity was established in the mid ninthies.
Gus, stop spamming
Not sure how many Norwegians bank with Irish banks Øystein, but at least their deposits are guaranteed. If Árni Mathiesen had said the same of foreign investors in Icelandic banks this pathetic trail through the courts trying to blame others could have been avoided.
This is just a way of the Goberment to create a smoke courtain arround them so peole blame somebody else, but people well at leas not all are stupid. this is an article fron the hufftington post.
Article: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/iris-lee/iceland—-the-nordic-zim_b_155375.html
> Pete, Ireland. And some Norwegian comunities will probably not trust an Irish bank in London any more. We will see what the The high Court Of Justice, Commercial Court in London will decide later this year.
THANX JO, IT IS THAT I HAVE DYSLEXIA TAHT IS BETTER FOR ME TO USE CAPITALS. I MIGHT EVEN PUT WORDS DIRECTLY AS THE SOUND ( LIKE FULL AND FOOL). NOBODY IS PERFECT, WELL, MAYBE THE ICELANDERS ARE…
Gus
As an English man, pensioner and ex Icesaver, Thank you.
You are a gentleman.
You may shout a lot but you seem to out shine the Icelandic bigots.
It would seem that Mr Haardes legal threat is becoming as empty as Icelandic Banking Guarantees.
http://www.londonstockexchange.com/en-gb/pricesnews/investnews/article.htm?wbc_purpose=Basic&WBCMODE=PresentationUnpublished?Arti?ArticleID=18960887
He states that he behind any action Icelandic Banks may pursue – the operative word being ‘behind’ – not leading from the front.
However, he may consider taking the matter to the European Court of Human Rights – a traditional forum for the weak and whinging.
Either put up – or shut up Mr Haarde.
zerozen’s father may never have trusted the English, but the English and everyone else will sure as hell never trust the Icelanders again.
Face it, this is your fault Iceland.
ZEROZEN. WHAT LACK OF TRUST DO YOU BLAME THE ENGLISH ABOUT? THE ONLY TRUST TO BE SEEN IN THIS CASE IS THE TRUST THOUSANDS OF PEOPLE PUT ON ICELANDIC BANKS, AND YOU SEE WHAT THE ICELANDIC BANKS HAVE DONE WITH THE SAVINGS OF THOSE INNOCENT HARD WORKERS AND PENSIONERS WHO HAD THE RETIREMENT MONEY THERE. NOW, AFTER SO MANY YEARS OF SAVING AND WORKING HARD TO BE ABLE TO LIVE THEIR LAST YEARS WITH SOME DIGNITY THOSE ICELANDIC PIRATES HAVE TAKEN ALL THEIR HOPES AWAY…
THE ONLY ONES WHO HAS BEEN STEALING HERE HAVE BEEN THE ICELANDIC BANKS. THE UK GOVERN JUST DID WHAT THEY NEEDED TO DO TO STOP THIS CRIME TO CONTINUE.
AND ABOUT THROWING AWAY THE ENGLISH IN ICELAND, YOU WILL BE HAPPY TO FIND 20 ENGLISH MEN ON ICELAND, BUT IN UK THERE ARE THOUSANDS OF ICELANDERS…. DO YOU REALLY WANT TO MAKE A CHANGE? PUT THE ICELANDERS BACK TO ICELAND AND THEN THE BRITISH TO UK?? WHO DO YOU THINK WILL LOOSE? IF YOU PUT ALL THE ICELANDERS THAT ARE ABROAD BACK INTO ICELAND AND YOU PUT THE FOREIGN POPULATION IN ICELAND OUT, BELIVE ME, ICELANDERS WOULD STARVE OF HUNGRY… THE FOREIGN POPULATION IN ICELAND REPRESENTS ONLY A 5% OF THE ICELANDERS LIVING ABROAD…
IF ICELANDERS LIVING IN GERMANY, SWEDEN, DENMARK, FINLAND, FRANCE, SPAIN, ITALY, PORTUGAL, UK, IRELAND, USA, CANADA, ETC. ETC.. WERE FORCED TO COME BACK TO ICELAND WELL, BELIEVE ME… I THINK CANNIBALISM WOULD START RIGHT AWAY… THIS COUNTRY IS FOOL OF PEOPLE LIKE YOU HAVE ALREADY SEEN IN THIS PLACE PUTTING COMMENTS INVITING FOREIGNERS TO GO AND LEAVE ICELAND…. HOW ARROGANT WHEN THEY ARE ALL AROUND THE WORLD IN SO MANY COUNTRIES…
MOST OF FOREIGNERS HAVE LEFT THIS COUNTRY AS IT IS NOT WORTHY TO LIVE HERE ANYMORE. AND THE ONLY FOREIGNERS WHO WANT TO LIVE HERE AND CHANGE THIS COUNTRY AND WORK FOR IT AND MAKE IT BETTER THEN THEY DON’T EVEN WANT TO LISTEN TO US AND THEY JUST TRY TO DENIGRATE AND HUMILIATE US, INVITING US TO LEAVE AND SAYING THAT WE ONLY SAY BULLSHIT… THIS IS THE REAL TOP OF IGNORANCE AND ARROGANCE…. SPECIALLY WHEN EVERYONE IS WAITING FOR FOREIGN INVESTORS TO PUT THEIR EUROS IN ICELAND TO REVITALIZE THE SO DEATH ECONOMY OF THIS COUNTRY…
MAYBE ALL ICELANDERS SHOULD BE PUT BACK INTO THIS ISLAND AND LET THEM EAT EACH OTHER AND RIDE THEIR HORSES AND LIVE THE WAY THEY LIVED IN THE MIDDLE AGES, THEN I WOULD LIKE TO SEE HOW MUCH THEY LIKE THEIR VIKING STYLE OF LIFE… IN THE 21ST CENTURY…
WAKE UP PEOPLE… MORE THAN 1.000 YEARS HAVE PASSED SINCE THE VIKINGS ARRIVED HERE, YOU LIVE IN THE 21ST CENTURY IN A GLOBALIZED WORLD. WAKE UP!!
ÁFRAM ÍSLAND.
What do you expect …after all , they are English……u cant expect nothing fancy out of it . damn pirates.
never trust an english my father used to say. and he was damn right.
they should kick out every single english man out of iceland regardless of they positions.
and Icelanders , please please , stop trusting and defending the goverment and trusting the banks , Welcome to the real world ppl.
People,
Don’t you realize that in fact the icelandic elite is using this whole “sue the british” argument as a decoy? it is desperate to divert the anger and frustration of the icelandic population from the real issue. This real issue is the economic situation of Iceland:
-how bad is it really?
-what wll be the consequences for the average icelander?
-what solution will there be?
Apparently the icelandic government is unable to answer any of these questions and tries to channel the national frustration into another direction. I do not think that such a lawsuit (if it would really be put forward) would have any chance of success, nor do I believe that anybody in the UK will lose any sleep on it.
Such lawsuits do occur and usually they will drag on for years…without any relevant results. The only people benefitting from it are lawyers.
The Icelandic Government allowed its maverick businessmen and bankers to gather vast deposits from innocent hard-working savers who placed their money in Landsbanki Guernsey or Kaupthing Isle of Man. Mr Haarde is now trying to blame the UK to deflect criticism from his government’s mishandling of the fiasco. How can anyone ever trust Iceland with their money again?
M J Ashbey
Gibraltar
THE UK DID NOT APPLY THE LAW AGAINST ICELAND, BUT, AGAINST A NATIONALIZED BANK THAT WAS GOING TO ROB FROM HUNDRED OF THOUSANDS OF SAVERS THEIR MONEY AND BRING IT TO ICELAND.
IT IS A LAW OF SECURITY, THAT IS ALSO APPLIED TO TERRORISTS FOR CONTROLLING THEIR ECONOMIC MOVEMENTS. TERRORISM HAS MANY FACES, IT IS NOT ONLY ABOUT PEOPLE WHO PUT BOMBS BUT ALSO ABOUT PEOPLE WHO ROB HUGE MONEYS IN THE MARKET, ETC…
WHAT THOSE FOOLS ARE GOING TO GET IS THAT EVERY COUNTRY GETS SCARED OF HAVING ANYTHING TO DO WITH ICELAND.
THIS IS FOR SURE THE LAST ACT OF THIS TRADEGY-COMEDY… THESE PEOPLE NEED TO REALLY RUIN AND SINK THE COUNTRY TOTALLY…
>We seem to of helped a situation by becoming a perfect news decoy.
I think its was such a trivial event in the UK that it hardly detracted from anything. The scandal of the billions lost hasn’t even registered, the UK bank situation swamped what happened to these minor banks.
How utterly utterly ridiculous! You would have thought that Iceland’s Prime Minister would be trying to put the country back on its feet after the crisis caused by his own government’s fault. But no, he still wishes to blame someone esle, as if His Excellency Geir H. Haarde had no role in the fiasco. Maybe the tame Icelandic media will fall for it once again, but this guy has shown once and for all that he is the problem and not the solution.
I think Brown and Darling,s attack against Iceland .was to distract and hide attention from this-
what was happening in Britain at the time.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/business/7796329.stm
We seem to of helped a situation by becoming a perfect news decoy.
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