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Ex-Iceland PM on trial over banking crisis

06 September 2011 08:29 (UTC +04:00)

Baku - APA-Economics. Iceland’s former prime minister Geir Haarde became on Monday the first political leader to be tried over the global financial crisis as proceedings began to decide if he can be held accountable for his country’s banking sector collapse.

Haarde, 60, who arrived minutes before proceedings began at 1000 GMT looking cheerful and accompanied by his wife, asked the court for a third time to dismiss the charges, which he has called a "farce."

Haarde was one of four former Icelandic government ministers blamed in a report last year for contributing to the country’s stunning financial sector collapse in late 2008, when all its major banks, which at the time held assets equal to 923 percent of gross domestic product, failed in a matter of weeks.

But parliament, now majority-held by Haarde’s left-leaning opponents, voted last September that he was the only one who should be charged with "gross neglect" and he will thus become the first person to go before the Landsdomur, a never-before used special court for current and ex-ministers.

Upon arriving at the Icelandic Culture House in Reykjavik, chosen because it is large enough to house the proceedings and considered neutral ground, Haarde, wearing a dark suit and blue tie, told AFP he had yet to decide whether he would make a statement after the day’s hearing.

"I’m thinking about it," said Haarde, who headed the right-leaning Independence Party and held the reins of government from mid-2006 to early 2009 when his coalition was ousted amid public uproar over the crisis.

His legal team meanwhile sent AFP a document showing the former premier would present six grounds for dismissal Monday.