26-10-2015, 09:17 AM
When Iceland's President, Olafur Ragnar Grimmson was asked about his country's recovery from the 2008-2009 financial crisis, he famously said:
Unfortunately, the maximum sentence for these crimes is six years, but Iceland's Supreme Court is currently hearing arguments for expanding these sentences.
"We were wise enough not to follow the traditional prevailing orthodoxies of the Western financial world in the last 30 years. We introduced currency controls, we let the banks fail, we provided support for the poor, and we didn't introduce austerity measures like you're seeing in Europe."
You can add one other item to that list: Iceland threw bankers into jail when they broke the law. Unlike the Obama Administration Justice Department, the Icelandic Supreme Court and Reykjavik District Court have found the five top bankers from Landsbankinn and Kaupping the two largest banks in the country - guilty of market manipulation, embezzlement, and breach of fiduciary duties (i.e. fraud).Unfortunately, the maximum sentence for these crimes is six years, but Iceland's Supreme Court is currently hearing arguments for expanding these sentences.