Lindarhvoll, a company founded to handle public assets following the banking collapse, must hand over a 37-page internal report on its dealings, the Prime Ministry’s Information Committee (Úrskurðarnefnd um upplýsingamál) has ruled. Opposition MPs have demanded the publication of other internal documents from the company that pertain to the sale of public assets that fell into state hands due to the banking collapse. The document is expected to shed light on whether the company in fact sold public assets at the best possible price. RÚV reported first.
Read More: Opposition MPs Demand Access to Banking Collapse Related Report
Lindarhvoll was founded by the Finance Ministry in 2016 to handle assets acquired by the government after Iceland’s banking collapse. In 2020, Frigus II ehf. sued Lindarhvoll and the Icelandic state for ISK 651 million [$4.6 million, €4.3 million] due to the sale of Klakka ehf. to another company. According to Frigus, the company’s purchase offer for Klakka ehf. was rejected in favour of an offer that did not fulfil the conditions of the sale. If that assertion proves true, it would mean Lindarhvoll did not necessarily act in the public’s best interest in the sale of public assets.
Internal data handed over
Opposition MPs have been calling for a 2018 internal report from Lindarhvoll to be made public, but despite pressure, it remains an internal document. Last Monday, the governing majority also voted against permitting MPs to submit questions about Lindarhvoll in parliament, leading Social-Democratic MP Jóhann Páll Jóhannsson to ask “What is it that the public is not allowed to see?”
The ruling made by the Information Committee does not concern the 2018 report, but other internal documents from Lindarhvoll: a 37-page report and memoranda on Lindarhvoll written by the law firm MAGNA for the Speaker’s Committee of Parliament. These documents will now be handed over to Frigus, as per the ruling.
