Dutch Minister of Finance Wouter Bos has ordered an investigation into allegations made by the Central Bank of the Netherlands that Icelandic authorities lied about the situation of the Icelandic banking system in the lead-up to the banking collapse of October 2008, dutchnews.nl reports.
The headquarters of Landsbanki in Iceland. Photo by Páll Stefánsson.
Both Dutch Central Bank chief Nout Wellink and Arnold Schilder, former Dutch banking supervisor, have stated in interviews with a Dutch parliamentary committee investigating the global economic crisis that Icelandic authorities provided false information on the financial health of Landsbanki, which opened Icesave in the Netherlands in the spring of 2008, mbl.is reports.
Wellink told the Dutch media yesterday that he has documents that prove that Icelanders promised to guarantee all deposits in the Icesave accounts.
Björgvin G. Sigurdsson, MP for the Social Democrats, who served as minister of business and banking in Iceland at the time of the collapse, reacted harshly to Wellink’s allegations of lies, calling them a misinterpretation of reality, visir.is reports.
Sigurdsson stated in an article in the Dutch newspaper De Volkskrant this week that French authorities had known that there was no state guarantee on Icesave and that they had therefore refused to open the accounts in France.
However, a spokesperson for Banque de France said Landsbanki never applied to open Icesave accounts in France.
The Dutch media, including the news website De Verdieping Trouw said that statement is interesting considering Sigurdsson’s claims in De Volkskrant, which he used as counterarguments for Wellink’s allegations.
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