Pétur Einarsson, the head of Reykjavik-based investment bank Straumur, has been dismissed following the release of a report stating that he evaded paying taxes in Britain whilst serving on the board of failed London investment firm Cbridge Ltd.
According to the report from the U.K. Insolvency Service, Einarsson had paid himself nearly GBP 100,000 (EUR 115,500) of Cbridge profits in order to “fund his own lifestyle”. The report added, “but he made no attempt to pay the mounting corporation taxes owed by the company,” Bloomberg reported on Thursday 28 February.
In 2010, Cbridge went into voluntary liquidation.
Mr Einarsson has since defended himself by saying that the Insolvency Service’s findings are “incredibly harsh and unfounded.” He added that he had suffered nearly USD 1 million (EUR 768,000) in lost claims when Straumur went bankrupt and that he had taken his salary only for the two years that had been brought into question.
Einarsson told Bloomberg reporters, “The person that has lost the most from this was me.”
Meanwhile, Straumur’s chief financial officer Jakob Ásmundsson has now taken on the role of chief executive, the firm said in an official press release.