Iceland : Baugur Investment chief indicted in Iceland - by Richard Milne

The most prominent of Iceland’s one-time corporate raiders has been indicted by the country’s special prosecutor in the latest attempt by the Nordic island uncover alleged wrongdoing from its dramatic financial crisis.

Jón Ásgeir Jóhannesson, who once bought up swaths of the UK high street through his investment company Baugur, was charged in last week’s indictment alongside the former chief executive of Glitnir, one of Iceland’s biggest banks.

The entrepreneur became the epitome of both Iceland’s boom and also its painful bust after a group of oligarchs used cheap credit to build global empires that crumbled as Iceland’s overleveraged banks collapsed. At one stage, Baugur owned UK retail chains such as Hamley’s, House of Fraser and Oasis.

Read more: Baugur chief indicted in Iceland - FT.com