From Iceland — Supreme Court Attorney Goes After The President's Wine

Supreme Court Attorney Goes After The President’s Wine

Published September 15, 2021

Reetta Huhta
Photo by
Raysonho / Wikimedia Commons

According to Vísir, serious allegations against an employee of the President’s Office have been made by a Supreme Court attorney Sigurður G. Guðjónsson. He claims that the unnamed employee has taken a significant amount of wine to their own use from Bessastaðir, the official residence of the President of Iceland. According to the President’s Office, no such thing has been looked into.

Sigurður claims to have solid proof that beverages have been taken from Bessastaðir’s wine cellar to private use in recent years. “The question is whether this behavior is seen as a benefit of the job”, he states in his Facebook post. He reminds that there have been cases where similar behavior has been convicted as illicit enrichment, such as when the employees of Keflavík Airport drank wine from the duty-free shop at the airport.

Prior to this scandal, Sigurður has found many reasons to critique the President’s Office and the President himself, Guðni Thorlacius Jóhannesson. He has accused the President of hypocrisy and covering up sexual assault allegations against an employee of the President’s Office, to name a few.

According to the Director of the President’s Office, Árni Sigurjónsson, no suspicion has arisen that wine has been taken from the wine cellar to private use. However, the situation of the wine supply will be examined this week.

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