Björgólfur Thor Björgólfsson, one of Iceland’s “outvasion vikings” who helped ruin the economy, was given front-page space to write an apology to the nation this morning. “Not an apology but pure denial,” dismisses a university professor.
Björgólfsson, who was given above-the-fold front page space in this morning’s Fréttablaðið to beg the Icelandic people for forgiveness for “not doing better” and for not paying attention to the warning signs that the economy was falling apart, also added, “Each Icelander bears responsibility for their own spending and has to accept the consequences. I am no exception.”
Vilhjálmur Bjarnason, a lecturer at the University of Iceland, dismisses the apology as nothing more than denial.
“An apology implies a change in point of view,” he told Vísir. “But you can’t find any such change in his letter. It’s simply justification for his actions.”
With regards to the remark about each Icelander being responsible for their own budget, Bjarnason says that many Icelanders are now in debt thanks to the actions of men like Björgólfsson.
“If he was actually sorry, he’d return the money that he took from this country. This letter – which I’m sure wasn’t written by him but rather by his assistant, Ásgeir Friðgeirsson – is nothing more than a weak excuse.”