Hreiðar Már Sigurðsson, former CEO of Kaupþing Bank, may have begun his prison sentence at the small detention center on Skólavörðustígur in central Reykjavík, but he was yesterday moved to Kvíabryggja, where he will see out the rest of his sentence.
The Supreme Court of Iceland ruled in the Al-Thani case in February, handing down a five-year sentence to Hreiðar Már, Vísir reports. He arrived at the prison yesterday, looking worn and unhappy.
There has been some debate since the sentences were passed about whether it is fair to other prisoners in Iceland that the former chiefs of Kaupþing, sentenced because of their part in the Al-Thani affair, should go straight to Kvíabryggja. Kvíabryggja is classed as an open prison, while their crimes are classed as serious. Other claims of potentially unfair treatment are rumors that the Kaupþing bosses have been told they will most likely only need to serve half their sentences, and that Hreiðar Már was apparently held in special solitary accommodation on Skólavörðustígur, where he would not need to mix with the other inmates.
The head of Icelandic prisons, Páll Winkel, has assured reporters that banksters are not getting any special treatment, but other prisoners are known to disagree.
