The Special Prosecutor’s Office filed charges against four persons following an investigation into the affairs of Aurum Holding yesterday. Dv.is broke the story last night by which time the indictment had been received by Reykjavík District Court but not the defendants or their legal representatives.

According to Fréttablaðið, former CEO and chair of Baugur Group Jón Ásgeir Jóhannesson and former CEO of Glitnir Lárus Welding are among the defendants. The names of the other two defendants had not been confirmed.

The winding-up committee of Glitnir sued six persons in 2010 because of the Aurum case, demanding ISK 6 billion (47 million, 36 million) in damages.

These were Jón Ásgeir, Lárus, entrepreneur Pálmi Haraldsson and three employees of Glitnir: Guðný Sigurðardóttir, Magnús Arnar Arngrímsson and Rósant Már Torfason.

The case is about Glitnir’s acquisition of the jewelry chain store Aurum from Pálmi for ISK 6 billion in May 2008.

The winding-up committee maintains that the multiple premium was paid for the chain store and that Pálmi and Jón Ásgeir received ISK 1 billion each in the process.

Jón Ásgeir held at the time through his companies a large share in Glitnir. Fréttablaðið states that email correspondents indicate that he and Pálmi were in disagreement about the acquisition.

Lárus Welding is also involved in an ongoing court case based on the Special Prosecutor’s investigations.

ESA

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