Geir Haarde Lands Washington D.C Ambassadorial Post

Former Prime Minister of Iceland, Geir H. Haarde, has landed a pivotal ambassadorial post in Washington D.C, reports RÚV.

Geir is most known for being prime minister during Iceland’s 2008 economic meltdown.

In 2010, parliament voted in favour of Geir standing trial for negligence and mismanagement while in office.

Geir was eventually found guilty of one of the four charges of negligence levied against him. As reported, the charge was that he either knew or should have known that he had to respond in some way to the information he had been receiving that the economy was unstable.

Prosecutor Sigríður Friðjónsdóttir concluded her final arguments by saying that when it comes to the personal responsibility of a government minister, the law is clear. Geir had many opportunities to step in and prevent disaster, she said, all of which he chose to ignore.

Andri Árnason, Geir’s defence attorney, argued on the other hand that many matters were kept deliberately hidden from Geir until it was too late, if they were revealed at all.

Despite being found guilty, the court did not give Geir a sentence for the charge, and ruled that the Icelandic government would pay for his legal expenses, which totalled 24 million ISK.

Geir will start serving as of January 1, 2015 and take over from Guðmundur Árni Stefánsson. The US government has approved Geir’s appointment.