The much anticipated charges in the Baugur case were published, along with explanations to each charge on Saturday in Baugur-owned daily Fréttabladid. One chapter was missing, chapter seven, which includes details of purchases made by Baugur CEO Jón Ásgeir Jóhannesson using a Baugur company credit card.
The published charges were followed by lengthy interviews with Jón Ásgeir and his father and business partner Jóhannes Jónsson. In an editorial, a senior editor explains that Frettabladid felt the need to violate their own sacrosanct rule of publishing , by giving both father and son, and the their legal team, the right to review and edit the interview. The rule was broken in light of the pending trial. The practise has been harshly criticized in the Icelandic media.
The charges caused a news storm in Iceland when they were first published in part in British daily The Guardian on Friday. The Icelandic Broadcasting Service, RÚV, says that the article included “explanations from Baugur’s war rooms”.
The 40 charges are categorized into eight chapters and include embezzlement and fraud.
Those indicted are: Jón Ásgeir Jóhannesson, CEO of Baugur; Tryggvi Jónsson, former CEO of Baugur; Jón Ásgeir’s father, Jóhannes Jónsson; Jón Ásgeir’s sister and CEO of investment company Gaumur, Kristín Jóhannesdóttir; and two auditors, Stefán Hilmarsson and Anna Thórdardóttir, both of KPMG Iceland.
