Iceland's corporate world on trial as Baugur case begins

[emad]

Iceland's corporate world on trial as Baugur case begins
By Susie Mesure in Reykjavik
Published: 18 August 2005


Jon Asgeir Johannesson, the chief executive of Baugur and one of the UK's most prolific retail investors, launched his quest to clear his name yesterday after he was formally charged with committing fraud, embezzlement and breach of trust against the Icelandic company he co-founded with his father 13 years ago.

Pleading not guilty to 40 charges ranging from embezzling company funds for buying a yacht to swindling fellow investors, Mr Johannesson struggled to maintain his trademark aloof veneer during yesterday's 25-minute hearing in Reykjavik's main court.

His five co-defendants, who include his father and sister, all also protested their innocence. Their lawyers have a reprieve before the court sits again on 20 October to hear whether the defence team has managed to bolster its case before the hearings proper, which could last for years, kick off.

Spectators including Mr Johannesson's arch-foe and former business partner, Jon Gerald Sullenberger, jostled for the chance to see how one of Iceland's most eminent businessmen would cope with being formally charged. For Icelanders, it is as if their entire country is on trial, given that the unfolding legal drama pits its corporate against its political elite. Johannes Jonsson, Jon Asgeir's father, speaking afterwards, repeated his belief that the case was a political "conspiracy" drummed up on behalf of the country's former prime minister, David Oddson.

http://news.independent.co.uk/business/news/article306631.ece

NEXT UP: BHS's Philip Green. Then Stuart Rose at M&S, Richard Branson @ Virgin. And not forgetting the biggest 'Con'of them all 'Sir Terence Conran' - the grand daddy of all fraud, embezzlement and corporate theft.