Former prime minister Geir H. Haarde has been appointed as an ambassador for Iceland by foreign minister Gunnar Bragi Sveinsson (Progressive Party/Framsóknarflokkurinn). Geir will join the foreign service on January 1st 2015, most likely as Iceland's ambassador to the United States.
Geir was chairman of the Independence Party (Sjálfstæðisflokkurinn) from 2005 to 2009. He was the prime minister when Iceland's economy collapsed in October 2008 and was heavily criticised in a report done by the parliament's Special Investigative Commission (SIC) into the financial collapse. The Commission was established by Althingi, the Icelandic parliament, in December 2008, to investigate and analyse the processes that caused the collapse of Iceland's three main banks.
In the SIC report, published in April 2010, Geir was accused of negligence along with three other ministers in his cabinet.
In the autumn of 2010 Althing voted 33–30 to indict Geir. He was the only minister indicted out of the four.
After standing trial before the National Court Landsdómur, a special tribunal that handles cases when government ministers are suspected of misconduct, Geir was was convicted in April 2012 on one of six charges. Two charges were dismissed during the trial. He was found guilty for not holding cabinet meetings on important state matters. Geir faced no punishment, as this was a minor offence according to the court.
This was the first time Landsdómur court was assembled since it was established in the 1905.
Foreign minister Gunnar Bragi Sveinsson has also appointed Árni Þór Sigurðsson, a parlimentarian for the Left-Green Party (Vinstrihreyfngin græn framboð) as an ambassador.
Former prime minister Geir H. Haarde has been appointed as an ambassador for Iceland by foreign minister Gunnar Bragi Sveinsson (Progressive Party/Framsóknarflokkurinn). Geir will join the foreign service on January 1st 2015, most likely as Iceland's ambassador to the United States.
Geir was chairman of the Independence Party (Sjálfstæðisflokkurinn) from 2005 to 2009. He was the prime minister when Iceland's economy collapsed in October 2008 and was heavily criticised in a report done by the parliament's Special Investigative Commission (SIC) into the financial collapse. The Commission was established by Althingi, the Icelandic parliament, in December 2008, to investigate and analyse the processes that caused the collapse of Iceland's three main banks.
In the SIC report, published in April 2010, Geir was accused of negligence along with three other ministers in his cabinet.
In the autumn of 2010 Althing voted 33–30 to indict Geir. He was the only minister indicted out of the four.
After standing trial before the National Court Landsdómur, a special tribunal that handles cases when government ministers are suspected of misconduct, Geir was was convicted in April 2012 on one of six charges. Two charges were dismissed during the trial. He was found guilty for not holding cabinet meetings on important state matters. Geir faced no punishment, as this was a minor offence according to the court.
This was the first time Landsdómur court was assembled since it was established in the 1905.
Foreign minister Gunnar Bragi Sveinsson has also appointed Árni Þór Sigurðsson, a parlimentarian for the Left-Green Party (Vinstrihreyfngin græn framboð) as an ambassador.
