Hafskip (, ) was

Iceland Iceland is a Nordic countries, Nordic island country between the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic and Arctic Oceans, on the Mid-Atlantic Ridge between North America and Europe. It is culturally and politically linked with Europe and is the regi ...

's second-largest shipping line before its collapse which became a national

scandal A scandal can be broadly defined as the strong social reactions of outrage, anger, or surprise, when accusations or rumours circulate or appear for some reason, regarding a person or persons who are perceived to have transgressed in some way a ...

. The firm had fallen deep into

debt Debt is an obligation that requires one party, the debtor, to pay money Loan, borrowed or otherwise withheld from another party, the creditor. Debt may be owed by a sovereign state or country, local government, company, or an individual. Co ...

through its investment in new ships, intended to help the firm compete with

Eimskip Eimskipafélag Íslands hf. (, ), trading as Eimskip (, ), is an international shipping company with 56 offices in 20 countries and four continents; Europe, North America, South America and Asia. Eimskip specialises in worldwide freight forwarding ...

and American shipping firms in the transatlantic shipping trade. It was declared bankrupt on December 6, 1985; this led in turn to the collapse of its main lending bank, Útvegsbanki (the Fisheries Bank of Iceland). Partly because of Hafskip's ties to Iceland's

finance minister A ministry of finance is a ministry or other government agency in charge of government finance, fiscal policy, and financial regulation. It is headed by a finance minister, an executive or cabinet position . A ministry of finance's portfoli ...

Albert Guðmundsson, who was its former

chairman The chair, also chairman, chairwoman, or chairperson, is the presiding officer of an organized group such as a board, committee, or deliberative assembly. The person holding the office, who is typically elected or appointed by members of the gro ...

and still a

shareholder A shareholder (in the United States often referred to as stockholder) of corporate stock refers to an individual or legal entity (such as another corporation, a body politic, a trust or partnership) that is registered by the corporation as the ...

at the time of the firm's collapse, Hafskip's bankruptcy became a fuel for rival politicians, and ignited a criminal investigation which lasted six years.

Björgólfur Guðmundsson Björgólfur Guðmundsson (2 January 1941 – 2 February 2025) was an Icelandic businessman and chairman and owner of West Ham United. Björgólfur was Iceland's second businessman to be worth more than a billion dollars — his son, Björgólf ...

, Hafskip's managing director, and the Hafskip executives Páll Bragi Kristjónsson, Ragnar Kjartansson and the company's auditor, Helgi Magnússon, were detained and later charged with 450 criminal counts, from

embezzlement Embezzlement (from Anglo-Norman, from Old French ''besillier'' ("to torment, etc."), of unknown origin) is a type of financial crime, usually involving theft of money from a business or employer. It often involves a trusted individual taking ...

fraud In law, fraud is intent (law), intentional deception to deprive a victim of a legal right or to gain from a victim unlawfully or unfairly. Fraud can violate Civil law (common law), civil law (e.g., a fraud victim may sue the fraud perpetrato ...

. Björgólfur Guðmundsson was found guilty on five counts of minor

bookkeeping Bookkeeping is the recording of financial transactions, and is part of the process of accounting in business and other organizations. It involves preparing source documents for all transactions, operations, and other events of a business. T ...

offenses and sentenced to 12 months'

probation Probation in criminal law is a period of supervision over an offence (law), offender, ordered by the court often in lieu of incarceration. In some jurisdictions, the term ''probation'' applies only to community sentences (alternatives to incar ...

. There was also another scandal with the same company that happened in 1978. But the second incident was larger.

References

External links

The Hafskip Affair - Article by Örnólfur Árnason, in the compendium Ísland í aldanna rás 1900-2000
* Lee, Peter, 'Landsbanki's New Masters Take Control', ''Euromoney'', vol. 33 issue 403 (November 2002), pp. 34–47 Corporate scandals Shipping companies of Iceland {{Iceland-company-stub

See also

References

External links