Iceland just said “no, we are not guilty-by-association. And we don’t want to be punished for that. Therefore we don’t want to pay for Icesave”. I have nothing left to do, but applauding it.

Yesterday the Icelandic people voted against paying back the money to English and Dutch savers that these had lost in the Icesave drama. That is a choice I understand and a choice I even applaud! Please read President of Iceland Olafur Grimsson just says no!. And so do I! before you want to hang me from the highest tree.

I am a Dutch guy with a nest egg in the bank, that cost me a lot of hard work and frugality. I also had a number of colleagues that lost money in the Icesave drama.  I therefore understand what it is to lose money. But for me it is a good thing that the Icelandic people don’t punish themselves now for being “guilty by association”.  I know with this statement I run the risk of being treated as a traitor, but it would really be a disgrace if the innocent Icelandic people have to bleed for crimes they didn’t commit. 


And paying back €15,800 per capita in order to pay back €5 bln to Dutch and British savers is indeed being punished!

However, I do think that the Dutch and British people should nail the guys that are really responsible for the Icesave / Landsbanki  drama:

·         CEO, board of directors and board of supervisors of Icesave and Landsbanki for planning a deliberately fraudulent scheme for robbing money of Dutch and British savers. This because both banks were probably already technically bankrupt before Icesave even started in the UK and The Netherlands.

·         The companies and people that received the money coming from this fraudulent scheme for money-laundering and handling of stolen goods.

·         The shareholders and bondholders of Icesave / Landsbanki for financing an organization that had criminal, while fraudulent intensions. Not that these people are guilty, but their money made it possible to begin with.

·         The supervisors from De Nederlandse Bank (DNB)  and the Bank of England (BoE) for disavowing one of their main tasks of protecting the Dutch and British citizens against fraudulent banks. No more “our hands were tied around our backs. We couldn’t do anything to prevent it” for Nout Wellink and Mervyn King. Let’s get rid of these total failures.

Besides that the people that stashed more money in the Icesave bank than the Dutch state warranted  (€100,000 +) should say when they look to themselves in the mirror: “Did I do everything right? Well, did I??”