Iceland Weather Report

4th august, 2009

Public outrage continued today over the injunction ordered against RÚV [the Icelandic state broadcaster], aimed at stopping it from processing thedetails of the Kaupthing loan book.

Bizarrely, an injunction has not been ordered against other media – only the state broadcaster, although the other media have been sternly instructed by Kaupthing to ignore the WikiLeaks report, OR ELSE. At the same time everybody knows this injunction is a farce – the information has already been downloaded by everyone and his dog here in Iceland and besides, it’s still readily available online.

Some people are doing an excellent job at processing the information in theWikiLeaks article – including the excellent Dagblaðið NEI. It points out, among other things, that Kaupthing, which at the time of its privatization in the early part of this decade was estimated to be worth ISK 20 billion [USD 159 million], loaned its TEN LARGEST CLIENTS a grand total of ISK 1,500 billion [yes, you read that right] in the subsequent few years that it operated as a private banking institution.

Many of the largest recipients of loans from Kaupthing were shareholders in the bank, while the collateral for the loan were shares in the bank itself. [And if you’re like me, this is the point where you’re tempted to stop reading because the mind starts turning somersaults. Is it any wonder they need a team of highly-specialized experts to unravel all the endless knots and tangles in this sorry scenario? This is only the beginning!]

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