Ebbie I will do the best I can to explain what I meant and why some of the Iceland entrepreneurs, once lauded like Viking heroes in their own country, are now in 'exile' but not necessarily (yet) 'criminals in hiding'


"One of the more important players in the free market is the entrepreneur. In the free market the skills and risks which the entrepreneur is willing to take can be fully exploited by both producers and consumers to their advantage.

The entrepreneur is also characterised by an alertness for opportunities which have been ignored or unseen by others.
These opportunities are almost always accompanied by some profit.

The perception that a profit can be made by a market action is perhaps the prime mover of the entrepreneur. To buy at a set price and then sell at a higher one and the accompanying freedom to keep the difference as reward for his efforts provides the individual with the proper incentive to utilise the skills and abilities, along with a calculated risk, which make an entrepreneur. Moreover, if the entrepreneur is to function at all, it is only by the absence of stifling government restrictions and regulations.

- an introduction to 'The Entrepreneur, Risk Taking And The Profit Motive' by Doctor Mark Cooray


Within a free market order, entrepreneurs have to take risks because the last word lies with the potential buyers, the consumers, in return for the element of risk the entrepreneur demands a reward —this is the profit margin

This may take the form of investment in updated plant for increased efficiency and lower prices, it may involve expansion into new products and new markets, it may involve the takeover of less thriving firms in order to put their resources to more productive use it may also, of course, mean the purchasing of penthouse NY apartments and luxury yachts!

Within the private enterprise system entrepreneurs have been accused of being driven by unbridled greed to achieve excessive profits at the expense of both workers and consumers.


Iceland lauded the 'viking spirit' of its entrepreneurs
At the beginning of 2008 Reykjavik hosted one of the largest collections of private jets found anywhere in the world, used to whisk its new ruling elite of billionaire businessmen to visit their operations around the globe

Baugur, the Icelandic investment group, owned much of Britain's high street, with an empire stretching from House of Fraser and Whittard of Chelsea to the Iceland food store chain.
Landsbanki, the banking group, now had a firm foothold in the City, having bought stockbrokers Teather & Greenwood and Bridgewell.
It also built a huge UK internet savings business, branded IceSave.
Bakkavor, the food group, owned the fruit supplier Geest, along with a number of other specialist food businesses.
The list went on and on.


However, in the same year analysts began to suspect that, thanks to a series of cross-shareholdings across the Icelandic economy, it would not take much for the whole country's financial system to go into meltdown.

"The Icelandic banking sector is a classic example of plucky ambition or unrestraint, depending on one's attitude to risk" declared one consultancy

The circular web of cross-shareholdings, and relationships practiced in Iceland raised very real concerns in some quarters

Bjorgolfsson, for example, was chairman of Straumur, Iceland's fourth-largest bank. His father was chairman of Landsbanki. Together they owned an investment firm called Samson, which held 32 per cent of Straumur, and 41 per cent of Landsbanki.

The concerns about cross-holdings are rational.
Whether they are 'illegal' or fraudulent is another matter however....

Funding the likes of the major players like Bjorgolfsson, and Jon Asgeir Johannesson at Baugur made big money for Icelandic banks and, in turn, attracted many investors and savers
At the beginning of 2008 Landsbanki's results revealed that it had almost £5bn of UK savers' money - a substantially larger retail franchise than it had in Iceland.

As reported in The Huffington Post two months ago -

Ólafur Þór Hauksson may be the most important person in Iceland today....(he) is responsible for investigating and prosecuting the events that led up to the spectacular collapse of Iceland's banking sector in 2008
One year ago, he was serving as the district commissioner in the rural Akranes district, far from the tumult and the shouting in Reykjavik, where the country was enjoying the highest standard of living on the planet
This distance from the rich and famous was his main qualification. once the national Ponzi scheme collapsed

The top Icelandic attorneys were major participants in the wheelings and dealings that characterized Reykjavik.
The country's major players, who until recently comported themselves as masters of the universe, can still make life miserable for any special prosecutor.
The cry for blood from the defrauded Icelandic workers could easily turn against the prosecutor if the big fish get off the hook.

But the process is not fast

Parliament had first to fast track laws that overuled the current bank secrecy laws

transcript of interview with Ólafur Þór Hauksson and what steps are being taken to undercover any fraud etc here