Baugur chief cleared of charges

The District Court of Reykjavík acquitted Baugur chief executive officer Jón Ásgeir Jóhannesson and other Baugur managers of the final eight fraud charges they were facing yesterday afternoon.

Another 32 charges had already been dismissed by the District and Supreme Courts on technical grounds.

Jóhannesson, former Baugur CEO Tryggvi Jónsson, and KPMG accountants Stefán Hilmar Stefánsson and Anna Thórdardóttir had been charged with giving misleading information to shareholders and directors about loans in Baugur's annual reports from 1998 to 2001.

Additionally, Jóhannesson, his father Jóhannes Jónsson and sister Kristín Jónsdóttir were charged with evading import duties and preparing false documents in connection with cars imported from the US.

The Baugur case started in the summer of 2002 when a former Baugur business partner, Jón Gerald Sullenberger, filed charges with the office of the National Commissioner of the Police.

The police filed charges last summer but, in the autumn, 32 of the 40 charges were dismissed. They are now being reviewed by the special prosecutor to evaluate if and how they should be filed again.

A spokesman for Jóhannesson said: 'We're delighted with the verdict - it proves what Jón Ásgeir said all along, that there was no wrongdoing.'