Jailed Bankers Freed Early as Icelandic Government Implodes Over Panama Papers

(ANTIMEDIA) Iceland — The world watched in admiration last year when over two dozen Icelandic bankers who played a role in causing the 2008 financial crisis were sentenced to prison. Less than a year later, three of those bankers have been released — years earlier than expected. Their release was predicated on a change to current law regarding maximum penalties, but at least one lawmaker has suggested those who pushed the change through “handcrafted” it precisely to help bankers. News of their highly reduced sentences coincides with an ongoing scandal revealed by the Panama Papers this week regarding the Icelandic prime minister’s previously secret, offshore holdings in banks implicated in the collapse.

Icelandic outlet Stundin reported Thursday, as translated to English by the Icelandic Review, that three bankers from the Kaupthing Bank who weresentenced last year have been released. Former Kaupthing Chairperson of the Board Sigurður Einarsson, former Kaupthing Luxembourg CEO Magnús Guðmundsson, and former investor and 10% owner of Kaupthing Ólafur Ólafsson were convicted last year for their role in market manipulation and fraud. As the Reykjavík Grapevine summarized, “they artificially inflated the value of the bank, deliberately deceiving investors and depositors alike, and contributed significantly to the late 2008 collapse of the Icelandic banking system.”

They have each served roughly a year of their prison sentences, which ranged between four and five years, but because of a change to the lawmade March 16 regarding maximum penalties, they were released Thursday.

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Case closed, but the question lingers: is the Panama Papers merely a warning to anyone in government who dares to put bankers in prison to make sure that their own financial documents are in pristine condition, or else?

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