Hafskip

Last updated

Hafskip was Iceland's second-largest shipping line before its collapse which became a national scandal.

Contents

The firm had fallen deep into debt through its investment in new ships, intended to help the firm compete with Eimskip and American shipping firms in the transatlantic shipping trade. It was declared bankrupt on December 6, 1985; this led in turn to the collapse of its main lending bank, Útvegsbanki (the Fisheries Bank of Iceland). Partly because of Hafskip's ties to Iceland's finance minister Albert Guðmundsson, who was its former chairman and still a shareholder at the time of the firm's collapse, [1] Hafskip's bankruptcy became a fuel for rival politicians, and ignited a criminal investigation which lasted six years.

Björgólfur Guðmundsson, Hafskip's managing director, and the Hafskip executives Pill Bragi Kristjónsson, Ragnar Kjartansson and the company's auditor, Helgi Magnússon, were detained and later charged with 450 criminal counts, from embezzlement to fraud. Björgólfur Guðmundsson was found guilty on five counts of minor bookkeeping offenses and sentenced to 12 months' probation. [2]

There was also another scandal with the same company that happened in 1978. But the second incident was larger.

See also

Related Research Articles

Ernst & Young Multinational professional services network headquartered in London, England

Ernst & Young Global Limited, trade name EY, is a multinational professional services partnership headquartered in London, England. EY is one of the largest professional services networks in the world. Along with Deloitte, KPMG and PricewaterhouseCoopers, it is considered one of the Big Four accounting firms. It primarily provides assurance, tax, consulting and advisory services to its clients. Like many of the larger accounting firms in recent years, EY has expanded into markets adjacent to accounting, including strategy, operations, HR, technology, and financial services consulting.

KPMG Multinational professional services and accounting company firm

KPMG International Limited is a multinational professional services network, and one of the Big Four accounting organizations.

Davíð Oddsson Icelandic politician

Davíð Oddsson is an Icelandic politician, and the longest-serving prime minister of Iceland, in office from 1991 to 2004. From 2004 to 2005 he served as foreign minister. Previously, he was Mayor of Reykjavík from 1982 to 1991, and he chaired the board of governors of the Central Bank of Iceland from 2005 to 2009. The collapse of Iceland's banking system led to vocal demands for his resignation, both from members of the Icelandic public and from the new Icelandic Prime Minister Jóhanna Sigurðardóttir, which resulted in his being replaced as head of the Central Bank in March 2009. In September 2009 he was hired as the editor of Morgunblaðið, one of Iceland's largest newspapers, a decision that caused nationwide controversy and was followed by resignations and widespread terminated subscriptions. He contested the election for President of Iceland on 25 June 2016 but lost to Guðni Jóhannesson.

Baugur Group

Baugur Group was an Icelandic investment company. The group began as a supermarket and general retail company in Iceland, before diversifying to own a number of businesses at its peak, primarily in the United Kingdom.

Björgólfur Thor Björgólfsson Icelandic billionaire businessman

Björgólfur Thor Björgólfsson, known internationally as Thor Bjorgolfsson, and colloquially in Iceland as Bjöggi, is an Icelandic businessman and entrepreneur. He is also chairman and founder of Novator Partners. Björgólfur Thor has built and invested in a number of larger companies and smaller startups, including Actavis, a pharmaceutical company; WOM Play - mobile telecoms challenger brands in Chile, Colombia and Poland; and Zwift - an online platform for indoor cycling. Other companies invested in by Björgólfur Thor and Novator include Deliveroo, Monzo, Stripe, Cazoo, Xantis Pharma, Klang, and Lockwood Publishing.

Albert Sigurður Guðmundsson was an Icelandic professional footballer who played for, amongst others, Rangers, Arsenal, FC Nancy and A.C. Milan. After retiring from his sporting career he became a politician and was a member of Alþingi for 15 years, serving as Minister of Finance of Iceland and Minister of Industry.

Citizens Party (Iceland, 1987) Political party in Iceland

The Citizens' Party was a right-wing populist political party in Iceland which was formed in a split from the Independence Party in 1987. It disintegrated slowly until it ceased to exist in 1994.

DV is a online newspaper in Iceland published by Torg ehf. It came into existence as a daily newspaper in 1981 when two formerly independent newspapers, Vísir and Dagblaðið, merged.

Magnús Þorsteinsson is a businessman and was chairman of now defunct Avion Group. He was a high-profile investor and entrepreneur with interests in aviation and financial services.

Björgólfur Hideaki Takefusa is an Icelandic former football forward.

Björgólfur Guðmundsson is an Icelandic businessman and former chairman and owner of West Ham United. Björgólfur was Iceland's second businessman worth more than a billion dollars — his son, Björgólfur Thor Björgólfsson being the first. He was at one time the majority owner and chairman of the now nationalised Icelandic bank Landsbanki, the second largest company in Iceland. He was ranked by Forbes magazine in March 2008 as the 1014th-richest person in the world, with a net worth of $1.1 billion. In December of the same year Forbes revalued his net worth to $0, and on 31 July 2009 he was declared bankrupt by the Icelandic courts with debts of almost £500 million.

ALMC hf., formerly Straumur Investment Bank hf., is a regional investment bank headquartered in Reykjavík, Iceland.

2008–2011 Icelandic financial crisis Default of three major Icelandic banks

The Icelandic financial crisis was a major economic and political event in Iceland that involved the default of all three of the country's major privately owned commercial banks in late 2008, following their difficulties in refinancing their short-term debt and a run on deposits in the Netherlands and the United Kingdom. Relative to the size of its economy, Iceland's systemic banking collapse was the largest experienced by any country in economic history. The crisis led to a severe economic slump in 2008–2010 and significant political unrest.

The Icelandic "outvasion" was the period in the economic history of Iceland between 2000 and the onset of its financial crisis in October 2008. With the privatisation of the Icelandic banks being advantageous for investors, there was a large supply of cheap loan capital on the international market. A clause in the agreement with the European Economic Area stipulated the free flow of capital to and from Iceland.

Icelandic political scandals are political scandals which have occurred in Iceland's history and are connected to Iceland's politicians:

Margrét Þóra Hallgrímsson, also referred as Thora Hallgrimsdottir, was an Icelandic socialite and aristocrat who was the wife of the businessman Björgólfur Guðmundsson and like him was a prominent figure in the cultural and business life of Iceland from around 2002 to 2008. She was also the former wife of American Nazi Party founder George Lincoln Rockwell.

Björgólfur Jóhannsson is an Icelandic business executive, former President and CEO of Icelandair Group, the holding company of Icelandair, the flag carrier of Iceland. Björgólfur resigned as the Company's President & CEO on 27 August 2018 and Bogi Nils Bogason, the Company's CFO, became interim President & CEO of the Company Björgólfur was also the chairman of the board of the Confederation of Icelandic Employers but stepped down On 7 March 2017

Albert Guðmundsson (footballer, born 1997) Icelandic footballer

Albert Guðmundsson is an Icelandic professional footballer who plays as a winger for Serie B Italian club Genoa.

Dauðans óvissi tími is a 2004 novel by Þráinn Bertelsson, first published in Reykjavík by JPV Útgáfa. The title alludes to the seventeenth-century poem 'Um dauðans óvissa tíma' by Hallgrímur Pétursson. It is a darkly comical crime novel, but also to a significant extent a Roman à clef about the business activities of Björgólfur Guðmundsson during the 1990s and early 2000s, addressing a range of political, economic, and cultural questions of Iceland of its time, and has been characterised as 'eitt af brautryðjandi verkum á sviði íslenskra hrunbókmennta'. It is the first in a series of books, the second being Valkyrjur.

Útrásarvíkingur is a neologism coined during the early twenty-first century Icelandic banking boom as a term for Icelandic financiers who rose to prominence with a string of high-profile, credit-fuelled purchases of European businesses. The concept that it denotes, which imagines the financier as a modern-day Viking, has been the subject of extensive scholarly research investigating its relationship with Icelandic nationalism and the causes of the 2008–2011 Icelandic financial crisis.

References

  1. "Albert Guðmundsson ber vitni í Hafskipsmáli: Hef sjaldan kynnst skipulagðari". Morgunblaðið (in Icelandic). 2 March 1990. Retrieved 10 January 2022.
  2. Valur Grettisson; Friðrik Indriðason (31 July 2009). "Björgólfur Guðmundsson - frá upphafi til enda". Vísir.is (in Icelandic). Retrieved 10 January 2022.