UK TYCOONS HELD OVER ICELANDIC BANK PROBE

UK Tycoons Held Over Icelandic Bank Probe Share
6:15pm UK, Wednesday March 09, 2011

Lulu Sinclair, Sky News Online

Property tycoons Robert and Vincent Tchenguiz have been arrested as part of an international fraud probe into the collapse of Icelandic bank Kaupthing.

Robert (l) and Vincent Tschenguiz (r) are currently being quizzed by police



The British-based brothers, who have built up a financial empire specialising in property and leisure, are being questioned after a string of dawn raids across the City.

A team of 135 police officers and Serious Fraud Office investigators were involved in the raids, with arrests made after two business properties and eight residential addresses around London were searched.

A statement from the brothers said: "We were arrested earlier this morning and are being questioned with regard to matters relating to our relationship with Kaupthing Bank.

"Both of us are cooperating fully with the investigation and are confident that, once concluded, we will be cleared of any allegation of wrongdoing."

The pair are among seven men being held in the UK in connection with the fall of Kaupthing, one of three Icelandic banks that failed at the height of the credit crunch in October 2008.

The bank was taken over by the Icelandic financial regulator in 2008 a day after the Financial Services Authority transferred the deposits of around 30,000 UK depositors to another bank because it believed Kaupthing was in danger of defaulting.

The SFO told Sky News business reporter Tadhg Enright it was "seeking to identify" if false representations were made by the bank to attract UK investors.

"This is a complex investigation which crosses numerous jurisdictions," an SFO spokesman said in a statement.

"We have been working closely with the Icelandic special prosecutor's office to ensure that comprehensive and robust investigations are conducted ... and to ensure that there is no duplication of effort.

"We will continue to do so."

Two men aged 42 and 43 have also been arrested in a joint operation in the Icelandic capital of Reykjavik, the statement added.


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I WONDER WHAT THAT ALL ABOUT.

Badboy wrote:I WONDER WHAT THAT ALL ABOUT.

Badboy,

The Bank in Iceland went bust leaving many U.K. Depositors high and dry. At the time there was a lot of controversy because Gordon Brown
sequestered the assets of the Bank held in the U.K which didn"t go down too well with the Icelandic Government.

Apparently this Bank was paying interest well above the average and attracted many Depositors.

Quite what these two guys did we will no doubt find out.