Four men were questioned by the National Commissioner of the Icelandic Police yesterday due to suspicion of embezzlement in relation to the sale of the property on Skúlagata 51 in Reykjavík, which now houses the Chinese Embassy.
Copyright: Icelandic Photo Agency.
Police also raided three locations and confiscated various documents in connection with this case, RÚV reports.
On Friday last week ISK 93 million (USD 740,000, EUR 517,000) were confiscated due to alleged embezzlement when the house was sold.
It was mortgaged for more than ISK 1 billion (USD 8 million, EUR 5.6 million) through loans in Arion Bank, Íslandsbanki and Glitnir.
In mid-December an offer from an Indian company to purchase the property for ISK 575 million (USD 4.5 million, EUR 3.2 million) was accepted by the banks and the remainder of the debt was written off.
However, shortly afterwards an offer from the Chinese Embassy for ISK 875 million (USD 7 million, EUR 4.9 million) was accepted and so the banks believe they were cheated out of ISK 300 million (USD 2.4 million, EUR 1.7 million).
The suspects were released after questioning but Helgi Magnús Gunnarsson at the National Commissioner’s told mbl.is that more witnesses will be called in for questioning.
