The Reykjavík District Court dismissed the District Attorney’s case against the musicians in Sigur Rós yesterday, RÚV reports. According to the national broadcaster’s sources, the District Attorney has already decided to appeal the ruling to the Court of Appeal. Four members of the renowned experimental rock band had been charged with tax evasion.
The musicians had requested the case be dismissed based on a rule prohibiting double punishment. The Director of Internal Revenue had already notified the band members of a proposed reassessment of their taxes for the years in question and they had paid an additional ISK 76 million ($613,000/€558,000).
Not experts in finance
Throughout the audit, the band members have maintained their innocence and said that they had, in good faith, left their financial affairs to an accountant who mishandled them. Their lawyer, Bjarnfreður Ólafsson, echoed this in a statement, saying “The members of Sigur Rós are musicians – not experts on bookkeeping and international finance.”
