Special Prosecutor Ólafur Þór Hauksson has hired 22 new employees to help in their investigation of those named in the Special Investigative Commission (SIC) report on the causes of Iceland’s 2008 financial crash, and is intending to hire an additional ten to twenty people. Also, the Financial Supervisory Authority in Iceland (FME) has also taken on six new hires, and intends to hire six more.
Vísir reports that when FME advertised for staff over the summer, some 175 applications were submitted, many of them lawyers, and most of them with an education in business or related economic fields. When all hires are completed, FME will be about 100 strong – before the bank collapse, they had only 65 employees. The additional manpower, it is hoped, will increase the vigilance of supervision over Iceland’s banks and other financial institutions.
470 applications were submitted over the summer when the special prosecutor advertised for employees. Of the 22 who have been hired so far, nine are lawyers, six are educated in finance, and seven are policemen.
When all hires are completed, the special prosecutor’s team will have between 70 and 80 employees. They are expected to complete their work by the end of 2014.