Far North - Michael Ridpath [19]
‘But—’
‘I’ve been very clear,’ Gudmundur said.
The banker took back the paper and left the office without another word.
Gudmundur shook his head. ‘Some of these people don’t realize the world has changed. Now. Where were we?’
‘You were saying Óskar was popular. He didn’t have any enemies in the bank?’ Magnus asked.
‘Not that I am aware of. He may well have outside. I mean he is one of the gang of young bankers that has ruined the country, and people blame him for that, along with the others.’ Gudmundur shook his head. ‘They just didn’t have the experience to run a bank. It was irresponsible to let them do it.’
Magnus detected as much pleasure as pain in Gudmundur’s reaction to the comeuppance of the whippersnappers. ‘We understand that Óskar was under investigation by the Special Prosecutor for market manipulation. What was that about?’
‘Lending money to clients and friends to buy shares in the bank, and doing it secretly. At least that is what the allegation is.’
‘Were any of these clients Russians?’
Gudmundur’s frown deepened. ‘I don’t think so, but I can’t be absolutely sure. There is a web of holding companies and subsidiaries in places like Tortola and Liechtenstein and it’s a nightmare trying to figure out who the real owners are. But the bank has very few Russian clients.’ He paused. ‘In fact, none that I can think of.’
‘Presumably some of these offshore companies were owned indirectly by Óskar?’
‘Yes. The main holding company is OBG Investments. As well as Ódinsbanki it has holdings in a major chain of hotels and some retailers in Germany and Britain. And that’s just what is public knowledge. The company is run by Emilía Gunnarsdóttir, Óskar’s sister. Their offices are right here on Borgartún.’
Magnus asked some more questions about the bank and Óskar, and Árni took copious notes, although Magnus got the impression that he wasn’t really following what was going on.
Just as they were about to leave, Árni asked his own question. ‘Didn’t Gabríel Örn Bergsson work here?’
‘Yes he did,’ Gudmundur replied. ‘That was another sad case. It is unfortunate that two senior members of staff died in such awful circumstances, no matter how much damage they did to the bank.’
‘Did Gabríel Örn do much damage?’
‘Yes,’ Gudmundur sighed. ‘Most of the bad loans the bank made were in his department.’
‘What about Harpa Einarsdóttir?’ Árni asked.
‘I didn’t know her well; she left the bank just after I arrived,’ Gudmundur replied. ‘She worked with Gabríel Örn. I think she was his girlfriend. She had a good reputation within the firm, but she was too young. Too optimistic. No sense of what might go wrong.’
‘Was there any connection between them and Óskar?’ Árni asked.
‘Well, yes, obviously. Gabríel Örn was in charge of the leveraged lending group which was an important department. I’m sure that he and Óskar knew each other well. I have no idea about the relationship between Harpa and Óskar, but once again she was a fairly senior executive. And Óskar used to socialize with his staff. You must have read all about the parties in the newspapers.’
Even Magnus was aware that the Icelandic press had had a great time describing the excesses of the bankers, Óskar prominent among them: the parties, the private jets, the apartments in New York and London. To Magnus’s jaundiced eye it seemed nothing beyond the regular corporate excesses which you would expect in the boardrooms of America. It might not be in the Icelandic tradition, but it was certainly in the tradition of Wall Street.
‘What was all that about?’ Magnus asked Árni once they had left the CEO’s office. ‘Who the hell is Gabríel Örn?’
‘A banker who killed himself in January, a few months before you arrived in Iceland. Harpa was his ex-girlfriend who used to work for him. I interviewed her afterwards.’
‘Why did he kill himself?’
‘We’re not absolutely sure. He only left a brief text message as a suicide note. But he was responsible for bankrupting a bank. A few bad days at work, to put it mildly.