In an interview this evening at the TV station “Skjar Einn”, former Prime Minister and chief of the Icelandic Central Bank David Oddsson stated that the Icelandic government had no responsibility regarding Icesave. David said that at the time Landsbanki was sold to the Samson Group it was clearly stated by Althingi (Icelandic Parlament) that there was no back-up by the Icelandic government. He was Prime Minister at that time and leader of the Independence party. David did not rule out that he would return to politics.
MBL.is reports
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As he and colleague in Social Democrats should be — Steingrímur were on complete defencive over whole negotation process.
EU comission and member state know full well the lack of legal support and how weak for they position on guarantees yet incompetitent direction starting with Ingibjörg Sólrún way back means we end up with our crazy Social Democrat EU at any cost joiners signing on dotted line for the 7 years 5.5% interests ! And Steingrímur thinks this is OK ?!
My gods he is lucky not to be pelted with egg by his own party member in streets after this complete lack of prinicpals in two key areas that people vote him in on —
ie stay out of EU — and he votes for the starting negotiations!!,
and
accepting Icesave deal!
Another Iceleandic TV report where Lilja Mósesdóttir talk about this October 2006 memo :
http://www.visir.is/article/20090722/FRETTIR01/566181742
( First news item after intros. )
Peter London – at it again:
>David must also be aware that he agreed to the binding and final arbitration. There is no legal jurisdiction on this planet that will allow any further review of the decision.
Of course was not Davið, it was Árni Mathiesen involved with process on behalf of Icelandic government. Cant even get the basics right it still amazes me Peter that you still try same old poor rhetoric devoid of facts again and again.
Fact are that when it was clear that process was Kangeroo court, with not impartial process, Icelandic government withdrew from arbitration process — before very fast deciision was given 24hrs or so it was later.
In this thing call arbitration if party withdraws then some thing else has be tried as even it is called “binding arbitration”. This is definition of this arbitration both parties consent.
You must have concent of both parties to arbitration accepting process for it to be enforceable. If one party withdraw before result is given this decision has no force.
And what must happen if one party withdraw? Well in most cases then one or other party must sue other in a court.
That is what you dont seem to understand Peter.
Bromley86 – That mbl articles translates as:
“Höskuldur Þórhallsson, a member of parliament for the Progressive Party, said in today’s TV news that a memo, which confidentiality was lifted from today, shows that the heads of the British, Dutch and Icelandic inland funds discussed in 2006 how to react if the Icelandic banks could not fulfil their commitments regarding funds (ie people’s money in the bank) in the UK and Holland. Höskuldur said that in this memo, Icelanders’ rights had been taken into account and it was for example stated that if such a situation should arise, the Icelandic inland fund should be in charge of the rights issues of Icelanders. There is no mention of the state being accountable. In the Icesave agreement now being discussed in Parliament, it is specifically stated that this memo no longer applies. Höskuldur said that it first become clear today what this memo said and that he was sorry that its information was not available from the start.”
Thanks Peter, but the MoU that she’s refering to was from back in 2006. Not that I really understand what she’s saying, as it seems a little unlikely that EU member state officials met with Icelandic ones and just discussed compensating Icelanders!
I suspect that it’s just a quick repost of something a prominent Progressive Party policician has been arguing, but as I can’t read Icelandic I’m not sure:
http://www.mbl.is/mm/frettir/innlent/2009/07/22/minnisblad_birt_vegna_ogildingar/
This is the fundamental problem that Iceland is having at the moment. They are.
That’s not “fair”, but neither is it fair that I am responsible for the mistakes of British bankers. Sovereign country, etc. So we’re just talking about the degree.
The “it was the EU regulations” neatly ignores the fact that the EU didn’t force Iceland to outstrip the Swiss, just as it glosses over the fact that the actual regulators and lawmakers were Icelandic.
“deflect blame from the Icelandic Mafia” …..right,
you know as hopfully most people that the general public are not responsable for the bank failure, do you feel relived that the general public is getting the short end of the stick for the failure of a private company and faulty regulations?. Or should they demand that all options are looked at before they enslave their children?
The blame lies not only with Iceland, regulations and greed of few in position is to blame, this will happen again if nothing is changed.
Bromley86 said:
“Anyone know what Alda is talking about when she mentions a Memorandum of Understanding that came to light recently?”
Its just another piece of propaganda. I’ve just read this
http://www.island.is/media/frettir/MB_290309.pdf
Its argues about the legal options Iceland may have. Pity they failed to tell the lawyers that by agreeing and going to binding arbitration (which they lost) all legal options have closed.
All part of a concerted campaign to deflect blame from the Icelandic Mafia who apparently still control the country.
Anyone know what Alda is talking about when she mentions a Memorandum of Understanding that came to light recently?
http://icelandweatherreport.com/2009/07/sinister-revelations-concerning-the-icesave-agreement.html
“David Oddsson stated that the Icelandic government had no responsibility regarding Icesave. David said that at the time Landsbanki was sold to the Samson Group it was clearly stated by Althingi (Icelandic Parlament) that there was no back-up by the Icelandic government”
Anything stated in the Alþingi must be true, Icelandic politicians would never dare utter a fib.
Davið has God on his side.
Fisy:
“Main thing that Davið making clear — is that a court needs to review this case. I find it interresting that he want it ti be Icelandic court first.”
As he is very aware the court has ruled on the case.
Its final, absolute, binding, completed, no further legal redress decision was that the Icelandic government was responsible for paying the guarantee.
David must also be aware that he agreed to the binding and final arbitration. There is no legal jurisdiction on this planet that will allow any further review of the decision.
Iceland has given up all right to further legal discussion. It has signed binding contract to that when it joined the EEA.
Are you so really dim that you can’t get that fact into your head? David at least has the excuse that he has had a brain tumour to damage his mental faculties.
[…] die Haftung für die Einlagen der Bank abgelehnt habe, siehe den englischsprachigen Artikel bei IceNews (Anmerkung: merkwürdige Argumentation, denn rechtlich sieht’s etwas anders aus: Da […]
*http://icelandweatherreport.com/2009/07/just-when-you-think-things-cant-get-any-more-corrupt-they-do.html
this article I refer to as “This last article being good example of that.”
That other one is less bad than this one — although charred article of course miss out actual villain of that situation — Halldór Ásgrímsson as I write before about :
https://www.icenews.is/index.php/2009/06/16/former-iceland-pm-defends-bank-privatisation/#comment-81564
>Is that the case? Genuine question, as I though that the Bjorgolfurs were IP and that IP party members were given positions on the Landsbanki board. i.e.
http://icelandweatherreport.com/2009/07/here-are-the-charred-ruins-of-landsbanki.html
Brumley be careful that Alda writes is not factual in many case.
She does not go back down to original source materials and looks at surface based on what others say then adds whipped cream topping of rhetoric on top. This last article being good example of that.
She got it wrong on Aron Pálmi case for example and this reduce trust in her writings because it show that she is not careful to look below surface of what other say to come to her very strongly held beliefs that she writes of.
As to this news item — like his Interview in MBL on the Sunday earlier, there is not the press that this interviews deserve.
I won’t go into detail much now as I have some little time.
Main thing that Davið making clear — is that a court needs to review this case. I find it interresting that he want it ti be Icelandic court first.
Reason why of course is that the debt is owed by Icelandic government to this creditors being UK and Dutch governments as claiments. So if case comes here then it will become soon enough escalted up to EFTA Court for ruling.
But UK and Dutch do not of course want this any where near an impartial court like EFTA Court and nor do the EU commission.
He is more correct than not about the 94/19/EEC guarantee given specific issue of how all this happened to the banks here and this OECD speech by Jean-Claude Triche on committe very embarrasing for Red-Green government.
Basically Davið says let impartial court decide based on actual interpreation of 94/19/EC and case law around it — such as this from Jean-Claude Triche.
He makes point that government backing of deposit fund is not actually in the 94/19/EC and case law around it but to do so is a political decision not one based on the contract itself.
If that had been negotiating position taken by Red-Green government we would not be saddle with this 5.5% interest only for 7 years not capped against our exports ” deal “.
Gummi you are a master of a humor style.
Mike (UK Nordic Analyst) seem to have stopped posting since you post. That is shame.
Gummi,
really funny again!
>I THINK ICELAND HAS A LONG AND HARD WAY TO GO FOR MANY YEARS… IRRESPONSIBLE CHARACTER, LACK OF DECISION MAKING ABILITIES, POLITICAL CONTROVERSY, LACK OF CLEAN AND HONEST POLITICS,
I take offense to this, Sir Euro!! I disagree harshly, 100,000%!! And something else – I think Sir Euro is not actual knight of British Empire. ‘Euro’ is not an English name, after all. Also, knighted people do not tend to use caps-lock. Does Prince Charles type in upper case? Does he even use a keyboard? Of course not. That fine gentleman has servants to squeeze out even his toothpaste. Aristocratic people everywhere follow the Icelandic model: they have slaves and Eastern Europeans do their menial work. I offer myself as example:
I am, at present, lounging on the beach, laughing over my bank statement and sipping my Malt & Appelsin as I dictate this to Volodya (my Russian secretary) while Valerya (my Polish concubine) waxes my toenails and Trinca (my Moldovan Fool) entertains with comical gestures.
No my friends, we will not be enslaved by the EU. Say NO to the IMF! NO to the EU! NO to Iceslave! We are Icelanders! We will not be moved.
Áfram Island!
Sent from Gummi’s Blackberry in Tortola – expect typos
YES! I agree 100,000% with TWR!! We will not be enslaved! In any case, we Icelanders always pay our debts. Just give us time to define ‘debt’, define ‘pay’, define ‘our’, and of course define ‘always’. Patience please. (We will define that as well)
And another thing: if we owe you money, whatever you do, don’t think we’re bound to pay just because we sign an agreement. Ha! It’s only a signature. That could take years to define.
‘Binding’ by the way also means ‘constipating’. According to the Icelandic Bar Association: “This agreement is binding” could simply mean we will not use toilets.
Áfram Island!
Sent from Gummi’s Blackberry in Tortola – expect typos
Thanks NKOTB. The odd thing about the Iceland Review article is that the dates and quotes don’t tally with the Letter on the IMF website, which is dated 15th. Still, article nine does include something that says pretty-much what IR say:
“Under its deposit insurance system Iceland is committed to recognize the obligations to all insured depositors”
Presumably this is the ammended declaration and, although dated 15th, they held off signing it until the 19th.
http://www.imf.org/external/np/loi/2008/isl/111508.pdf
Of course, no doubt the Goldfish Effect will mean that David and the IP are absolved of all responsibility for the Icesave debt come the next elections :) .
“GENETICAL ISOLATION ( FAMILY MEMBERS THAT GET TO MARRIED RELATIVES OVER AND OVER)”
Well, genetic isolation does result in much more nepotism. There’s a far greater likelihood of politicians being related to businessmen being related to bankers, etc. A serious point.
I THINK ICELAND HAS A LONG AND HARD WAY TO GO FOR MANY YEARS… IRRESPONSIBLE CHARACTER, LACK OF DECISION MAKING ABILITIES, POLITICAL CONTROVERSY, LACK OF CLEAN AND HONEST POLITICS, I THINK THIS NATION IS JUST ALL ABOUT RED NECKS WITHOUT ANY CLUE ABOUT MANY THINGS, A NATION THAT IS IN DEEP SH?T AND GOVERNED BY IGNORANCE, SECRETISM, LIES AND CORRUPTION, I WONDER IF THE REASON FOR THIS IS THE ANCESTRAL AND TRADITIONAL ONGOING GENETICAL ISOLATION ( FAMILY MEMBERS THAT GET TO MARRIED RELATIVES OVER AND OVER) OR WHAT…
NOW ALL ICELANDERS ARE LOOKING AT EACH OTHER LIKE IN THAT MOVIE “THE HANG OVER” THEY ARE TRYING TO FIND OUT WHAT HAPPENED AFTER THE ECONOMIC ORGY THIS COUTRY HAS BEEN FOR TOO LONG…
P.S. I ALREADY BOUGHT MY CAR AT A LAUGHING PRICE AND I AM GOING TO GET HIGHER SALARIES AND BETTER WORK CONDITIONS THIS NEXT TERM, AS THEY ARE GETTING SCARED OF THE MANY SPECIALISTS THAT ARE SCAPING FROM THE COUNTRY…
Bromley86, I see now I was confusing two things. The ‘letter’ I was remembering is the Declaration of Intent for the IMF loan and was dated days before the loan was accepted. http://www.icelandreview.com/icelandreview/search/news/Default.asp?ew_0_a_id=336110
Unfortunately I don’t have the Declaration itself…
The current offer from UK and NL can not be accepted anyway. And no, Landsbanki was not a ‘proper’ bank. Not after he was sold to the family of scammers i mean…
I’m sorry to say, but most likely you wont get you money back. The good news is what you may get heads of Björgólfurs on the plate just to calm your feelings.
And no, as the one who had 0 loans, I don’t feel excited about waking up one day to realize what from now on few years of my income (if krona wont go down even further) will go to someone who decided to risk his cash for fast profit by putting it into the foreign private bank.
I feel sorry for you Icesavers… but I don’t want to pass debt of Iceslavery to my grand children.
Do you have a link for that letter NKOTB? An unequivocal letter from David might make me have to rethink my position on the Landsbanki freezing order.
Perhaps you were referring to one of these (not from David), which unfortunately are equivocal?
http://www.island.is/media/frettir/05.pdf
http://www.island.is/media/frettir/06.pdf
BTW, Oddson – when he was still sane – admitted all reponsibility for Icesave deposits was with ISL in a letter to NL and UK in response to the growing concern over the health of Landsbanki and the ability to back the deposits few weeks before the collapse.
what back-up? All that matters here is that Landsbanki was a proper bank, i.e. had a banking license, and deposits were therefor guaranteed by Sedlabanki. Under EEA regulation, they opened and operated Icesave in NL and UK, therefore guaranteed for the first 20k Euro was assumed by Sedlabanki.
Please Icelanders, I beg you, wake up and stop the bullshit, try to amend the Icesave deal NOW (maybe NL and UK will give ISL a second chance, although I would not count on it), or take it as it is otherwise this fall Kreppa will change into a 5 year – at least – depression. Nobody wants this to happen.
David Oddsson will continue popping up for years to come with provocative and sensational pronouncements. He’s like an eccentric old aunt that should never really be allowed out of the basement, but nonetheless occasionally escapes to frighten the neighbourhood children. I only hope that his mental ailments don’t prevent him from finding some peace in his old age.
Guess the big question is do we allow the dumb to rule as they do now who obviously dont have a clue what they are doing and take ages to achieve nothing!
Or do we go back to the politicians that stole and encouraged others to steal from us all.
Oh what a choice :(
>And to rewrite this in another way: The present government of Iceland is connected (friends) with those who are responsible for Icesave. Quo vadis, Iceland?
Is that the case? Genuine question, as I though that the Bjorgolfurs were IP and that IP party members were given positions on the Landsbanki board. i.e.
http://icelandweatherreport.com/2009/07/here-are-the-charred-ruins-of-landsbanki.html
What the former prime minister Davíð Oddsson is saying can be proved by the documents of Althingi (Icelandic Parlament).
And to rewrite this in another way: The present government of Iceland is connected (friends) with those who are responsible for Icesave. Quo vadis, Iceland?
This man is clearly still in denial. There will be no satisfactory resolution to Iceland’s parlous state until he and others like him are either sidelined or smell the coffee.
[…] Read more here: The Icelandic government is not responsible for Icesave | IceNews … […]
Don´t Worry Daddy is coming home…
Icelanders have goldfish memory…serioulsy…Few month ago they were prostesting in front of the CBI…Jóhanna was the most popular politician ..Now .. apparently they want Davið Back….The man that privatised the bank and that Knew what was going on…The man that choose to artificially maintain the krona high..with all the effects that we know today…
Like it or not.. the gouvernment have very hard decision to take. Decision that have to be taken as a response to previous decision made by previsous gouvernment…
Fews month ago 70% of the population was for looking what the European union had to offer..today they are only 48%…
Can Icelanders afford the luxury to not look for every solution possible to get out of their financial hole ? Or they are just to dumb to realize that they do not have choices…
I am starting to have serious doubt on the willingness and capacity of Icelanders to get out of this crisis…
Even more worring Old political tricks are still working…and let´s ask the men that did build the system to start to run again the country…
Goldfish memory…As it goes now..Iceland will not rise again for many many years…and they are still digging their own graves…
It doesn’t really matter what was said in the Althingi back then. Iceland agreed to operate under the EEA rules.
Of course, you could argue that those rules can be interpreted differently, but that’s not the same as what David seems to have said here.