The office of the prime minister has refused the request of the prosecution in the trial of former prime minister Geir H. Haarde to hand over all of his e-mails from his time in office.
Geir is the only Icelandic politician to face charges of negligence and mismanagement for his part in the economic collapse of 2008. RÚV reports that Sigríður Friðjónsdóttir, the prosecutor for the trial, originally sought all of Geir’s e-mails from the Office of National Records. However, very few of his e-mails from his time in office were available there.
That being the case, the prosecution put in a request with the prime minister’s office to receive all of his e-mails from his time at his post, as well as the minutes from all the meetings he attended. The prime minister’s office denied the request, saying that it could not do so without an order from a judge.
The problem this leaves for the prosecution is that these e-mails and minutes, being potential evidence, would need to be in the prosecution’s hands early on in the trial, but the process of getting the request approved may run overly long. The prosecution nonetheless intends to lodge a request with a judge for the documents.
Related:
Trial Of Former Prime Minister Begins
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