Gísli Freyr Valdórsson, former political assistant to Minister of the Interior Hanna Birna Kristjánsdóttir, received the Suðurnes police’s transcript of their questioning of asylum seeker Tony Omos the same day the police department’s chief had sent Gísli a statement on the progress of the case’s investigation.
According to news magazine Kastljós, which reported on the issue last night, the police investigation documents also show that Hanna Birna harshly criticized the police investigation of the leak when she was questioned by the police in April. She claimed that the investigation was an attack on her ministry and that it had been fabricated by the media.
Furthermore, the head of Rekstrarfélag Stjórnarráðsins, the company operating the government offices, had wanted to conduct a more thorough investigation of email correspondence within the Ministry of the Interior than had been carried out, Kastljós revealed.
Spokespersons for the ministry and the minister herself have repeatedly referred to the investigation, which Rekstrarfélag Stjórnarráðsins found to be insufficient, when concluding that the confidential information had not been leaked by the ministry.
The results of the police investigation, on the other hand, suggested that all information on Omos had been deleted from the mailbox of Gísli. Others who had received the memo that was leaked had not deleted it.
DV reported on Tuesday that former Chief of Police in Suðurnes, now Chief of Police in Reykjavík Sigríður Björk Guðjónsdóttir had called Gísli in the morning of November 20, 2013. That same morning, Gísli reportedly called Sigríður’s personal telephone number twice and received an email from the office of the Suðurnes Police about the affairs of Omos. Sigríður and Gísli have released conflicting statements about the phone correspondence.
On November 20, all the main media in Iceland published stories including sensitive information about Omos and other people with whom he was involved. At the time, his deportation was being protested.
The stories were based on the leaked memo from the Ministry of the Interior but referenced evidence from the Suðurnes Police.
Sigríður was appointed Chief of Police in Reykjavík by Hanna Birna to replace Stefán Eiríksson, who had led the investigation of the leak from her ministry.
Gísli was handed an eight-month suspended prison sentence last week after confessing to being the person behind the leak. He took sole responsibility for the action.
