So, my little post yesterday evidently hit a nerve with a few people.
After Eyjan and Pressan picked up on it, I was quite literally bombarded with phone calls and emails from one Ragnhildur Sverrisdóttir, Björgólfur Thor’s PR representative, who was most zealous in her denial of all the “old innuendos” made in the post.
First, she sent an email, which I did not see until a couple of hours later when I returned from the gym. She had also left two comments to the post, which were waiting in the moderation queue. Incidentally, she’d also called my cellphone AND my home phone during that time. In the email she asked that I give her name of the filmmaker I mentioned in my post, then claimed that no filmmaker had contacted BTB about an interview in the past year.
So on returning home I approved the comments and glanced through the emails before turning my attention to other — more pressing — concerns. While I was thus engaged, my cellphone rang, which I did not take since I was busy. It was Ragnhildur, who left a message on my voice mail requesting that I moderate the comments that she had written and reiterating what she had written in the email, that the filmmaker had been lying to me.
I responded to Ragnhildur’s email as soon as I could and politely told her that, unfortunately, I could not give her the name of my source, since I had promised not to. I also offered to publish a statement from her on my blog if she wanted. Finally, I asked whether I was to interpret this to mean that BTB is, in fact, willing to speak to the media or any documentary filmmakers about the Russian years.
Ragnhildur then wrote back and said she wouldn’t need the name of the filmmaker after all, since there was no filmmaker that had contacted BTB about an interview. [Um ...]
She also wrote that BTB had repeatedly responded to Russian mafia allegations in media interviews, in Iceland and elsewhere.
And she was kind enough to give me some advice:
If I were you, I would worry less about that [i.e. whether BTB is willing to speak about the Russian years] and more about the fact that, for whatever reason, the filmmaker lied to you.
I suspect the “BTB has already responded to the allegations” was meant to be the answer to my question as to whether BTB is willing to speak about his Russian affairs with the media, or not.
Yet it didn’t quite satisfy. I personally don’t recall seeing or reading any interviews with BTB where he answers questions about the Russian years. I’m not saying they don’t exist, just that I don’t recall seeing them. If anyone has links such interviews, please pass them along. I’d be happy to publish them, so IWR readers can decide for themselves whether BTB’s responses are adequate. Because, you see, I don’t recall any evidence having surfaced to refute the claims of shady business dealings, while I DO recall plenty of evidence surfacing in the last two years of BTB’s involvement with certain factions often described as the Icelandic mafia. Given that, isn’t it natural to wonder about these things?
[I also have a very vivid memory of BTB in the film Maybe I Should Have, where the interviewer asks him about allegations of criminal activity, at which BTB -- who up to that point had been careful to present only the most amiable persona -- tore off his microphone and stormed out of the room. For whatever that's worth.]
But I digress. Back to Ragnhildur. I hadn’t planned to respond to that last email [extreme patronizing tends to do that to me] — however, about half an hour later another email appeared in my inbox. And if I thought the first one had been condescending … *low whistle*
It began like this:
I wish you to publish this text on your website
Then came the statement she wished me to publish, and believe it or not, she can’t even get my name right.
Höfundur síðunnar, Alda Sigmarsdóttir, hefur eftir kvikmyndagerðarmanni að hann ætli að gera heimildarmynd um hrunið, en Björgólfur Thor sett það skilyrði, að ekki yrði fjallað um ár hans í Rússlandi. Þessi yfirlýsing huldumannsins, sem á að vera að vinna heimildarmyndina, verður Öldu tilefni til að rifja upp gamlar dylgjur.
Enginn kvikmyndagerðarmaður hefur sett sig í samband við Björgólf Thor eða starfsfólks hans sl. ár. Kvikmyndagerðarmaðurinn hefur af einhverjum ástæðum spunnið upp sögu, sem enginn fótur er fyrir.
Virðingarfyllst.
Ragnhildur Sverrisdóttir
Talsmaður Björgólfs Thors
Translation:
The author of the web page, Alda Sigmarsdóttir [snicker], quotes a filmmaker who says he is planning to make a film about the economic collapse and that Björgólfur Thor had set a condition that it must not deal with his years in Russia. The statement by this secret filmmaker, who is allegedly working on the documentary, gives Alda cause to begin re-hashing old innuendos.
No filmmaker has been in touch with Björgólfur Thor or any of his collaborators over the past year. For some reason the filmmaker has fabricated a story that has no basis in fact.
Respectfully,
Ragnhildur Sverrisdóttir
Spokesman for Björgólfur Thor
OK, then.
First of all, I have no reason to suspect that the filmmaker in question was not telling me the truth.
Second, I agree with Ragnhildur that the name of the filmmaker is unimportant. To some extent it is also unimportant whether or not Björgólfur Thor Björgólfsson talks to the media about the Russian years or not. The important thing is that the Bravo brewery, owned by BTB and his business partners, which was situated in St. Petersburg, seat of the Russian mafia, flourished, while their main competitors were either assassinated or had their business burned down.
Those are facts, and it is perfectly legitimate to ask the sorts of questions that The Guardian and others have asked. How is it that one business flourishes so spectacularly in a city that is steeped in crime and corruption, while others meet a brutal and untimely demise?
Also, BTB’s brewing company, according to Wikipedia, “was founded by six companies registered in Limassol, Cyprus. Björgólfur Thor Björgólfsson was president of all of them.” Cyprus is a notorious offshore tax haven, and tax havens usually play host to shady money. Those are not innuendos — just facts. BTB argues that all his business dealings were upfront, and according to the Guardian article, they were “three self-confessed naives.” But do naives found companies in shady tax havens, rather than legitimately in the city where the company is based? – You know, just asking.
Björgólfur Thor Björgólfsson and his PR rep can argue until they are blue in the face that there were no shady business dealings in Russia. But I suspect that, with those facts on the table, they will never be able to dispel what they like to call “innuendos”. People will always be asking legitimate questions — because it is natural to ask them.
Whereas is not natural to try to silence those who do.
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Oh, it is natural for bullies to try to bully people in to doing what they want. One wishes they’d grow up and start acting like a member of the human race, but they so seldom do.
Good on you, Alda, for putting BTB’s minion’s bullying out in the public record for everyone to see. Should help your google page ranking. Nice of him to put money in your pocket.
The BT PR rep appears to be unable to practice the art of spin and PR. To let the issue lye, it would have been best not to react. This merely serves the purpose of allowing other media to report the allegation…and rebuttal, where as the allegation may have been left unreported.
There will always be a whiff around the funding and management of Bravo, especially as subsequent BT ventures do not appear to have been as “successful” when conducted outside the post USSR business environment.
As Shakespeare put it: “The lady doth protest too much, methinks.”
How kind of you to translate it for her!
I think it is very interesting that you created such waves by simply posting what you clearly point out are merely rumours. Ragnhildur’s approach seems rather heavy-handed; if the allegations are false, why not just let the discussion die, and if they are true, one might not want to try and squash them in such a suspiciously frenzied manner.
I doubt this is the last you will hear from Ragnhildur regarding this issue. Maybe you should send her a thank you note for generating ad revenue with all of her page hits
HAHAHAHA!!!
Nice one Alda!
I can understand your reaction.
What I don’t understand, is the reaction of PR-people. Claiming that there is nothing to see doesn’t cause people to move on. It attracts further interest.
Doesn’t exactly seem to be a well-oiled, efficient machine….
Can’t but help but think Ragnhildur Sverrisdóttir’s job is what one would call ‘a challenging role”. I think Ranghildur is far more interesting than the Brewery – presumably, unlike the banking sector, it was one industry in which the ‘Viking Raiders’ could actually organise a piss up.
Go on Ragnhildur, what’s your next job going to be: ‘PR to the Gordon Brown Economic Foundation’, ‘PR to Tony Blair middle-east peace foundation”….. we want to know!
Hi Alda – there is an interview/profile in the Swedish magazine “Veckans affärer” which is much about the period in Russia.
http://www.va.se/magasinet/2005/40/artiklar_i_pdfformat/0540s52_profilen.pdf
reactions of btb and his embassador tell you one thing…the icelandic-russian money recycling machine did exist. nota bene alda that no main stream media will pick up this story (at least not now) because btb and his ventures might represent the not so pretty side of international banking. i guess he was/is an important partner to channel the not so clean dollars back into the money cycle, so to say the cleaning company for the “good bankers”. if so, he is doing the clean banksters an important favour. because even the drug/arms sale/oligarch dollar is only earning returns when it is moving from asset class to asset class and from trough to peak.
halda afram
When I read your post from yesterday I thought “wow, she’s brave for posting that” and now I’m thinking you really got some balls Alda… keep it up, but I hate to say it…. watch your back.
Chris is right.
If there really was nothing to see, the PR rep would just say, “Come and see for yourselves, and we can talk if you want.”
Stating simply, “There is nothing to see here, so bugger off” won’t cut it.
Then there is the small matter of “No filmmaker has been in touch with Björgólfur Thor or any of his collaborators over the past year.”
(But if you care to look two days beyond that…?)
Thanks, everyone.
Tom — I didn’t translate it for her, but for the readers of this page. That was my sole motivation.
Feel sorry for Ragnhildur Sverrisdóttir as s/he seems to lack professionalism. Is s/he doing a job or acting out of conviction on a hopeless case ? Besides, is s/he a spokes/man or spokes/woman or spokes-wo-man or spokes-per-son or … ? (Darned sexes or is it a smoke screen?)
Be it all as it may: the fact is in St. Petersburg are the ashes, in Iceland the smoke screens but in Cyprus is the fire. Did I mention it earlier? Eva Joly knows, I’m sure, and shall not get burned.
Cheers,
Michael
Ragnhildur is a woman’s name, and she is well-paid.
Now, Alda, you can witness firsthand how the rule “Don’t touch Russians” works, right?
But jokes aside – here are my five rubles.
The statement “in St. Petersburg, seat of the Russian mafia” is not correct. Not at all. Whether you measure it in black money turnover or murders per capita – it was not the capital. And – it’s not even relevant in this case. Because no matter where you run your business in Russia at that times – you couldn’t avoid dealing with… “roof”. This specific business terms – roof – means “protection”. Whether you get it from criminal groups or from authorities – doesn’t matter. In fact the difference between these two “roofs” was so little that there was no difference indeed
But “protection” from authorities were more reliable.
So this was the business environment over there. Like the weather – whether you like it or not you have to take it into account.
For instance… Vladimir Putin was in charge of international business matters in St. Petersburg in 1991-1996. So BTB might be more scared to talk about his years in Russia then you think he is
OMG Alda- this is why I love your blog. There should be no hiding place for both big and little shits. I sometimes think that corrupt people get so immune to their style of living and misinforming that they get impervious to the truth. That is, until they run into journalists like yourself. You are more valuable than a Russian Icon!But like Margret advised, watch your back- and keep us all informed. We may be distant bloggers but we are all supporters.
sylvia from viking wirral
Finally, your blog seems to get the attention in Iceland it deserves. Shouldn’t this be good news?
I am actually not sure, if this lady is just frustrated about the fact that nobody did an interview with BTB for over a year. Maybe she got a little bored in her PR job and started surfing the internet and found your blog. At least, she doesn’t appear to be very gifted for her task. But this is, how it gets in Iceland, where jobs are assigned on grounds of personal relation rather than on professionalism.
This Björgólfur father & son tandem is one of the most bizarre entities in the Icelandic meltdown. I am not sure, if BTB just has a trauma from his involvement in Russia or if he has somehing to hide. But he seems currently eager to reinvent himself as somebody, who will finally pay back his debts. Questions about the source of this money may be detrimental to his intention. But I suppose, without the appropriate amount of honesty there can’t be reconcilliation.
Hopefully no Icelanders will suffer polonium poisoning!
And just another thing – if I am not mistaken, the sudden wealth, acquired in Russia in the brewery business, was instrumental in having Landsbanki assigned to BG’s and BTB’s holding company Samson. As the Icelandic public has to take care of the fall-out of this failed privatisation in every respect, it also has every right to ask questions.
The pathetic attempts by this PR woman to silence inconvenient questions concerning the origin of financial means is a common pre-crash attitude. I just hope that nobody will fall into this trap a second time in the future.
@Chris: That is called the “Striesand Effect.”
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Streisand_effect
Alda,
What you do in communicating about Iceland to the rest of the world is incredibly valuable. You are a trustworthy and involved commentator. We’d be a lot poorer if you were not able to do it, quite apart from any concerns we might have about your well being.
Your last couple of posts sound as if you have successfully rattled the cages of some very nasty people. We all enjoyed reading ‘The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo’, but there’s no reason for you to try to emulate her. I obviously can’t evaluate how much risk you’re taking. You have to make your own judgements. But if Björgólfur Thor worked with the sort of people who did not hesitate to shoot those who got in his way ten years ago – IF – then you have to assess whether he still has those contacts. We all know that he still has a very great deal of influence in the Icelandic establishment.
Don’t get me wrong, brave journalists are the heroes of our age – but I would very much prefer that our brave journalist was able to carry on writing.
Please take care.
@JB: I know.
Simon and everyone — thanks for your concern. I very much appreciate it. However, I’m by no means the first person to broach this subject or write about it. Lára Hanna has done so in the past, as have others. And they’re still around.
OK Alda I agree that there are lot of “Natasha’s” so to to speak in just offside of Kyrenia (Gyrenia for moslems) claim political asylum in the Irish Republic you are wasted on Iceland, I will personaly give you a pair of Rosery beads and a totally authentic Hail Mary Figureen.
Joerg.
It might be possible that BTB reputation repels all real professionals no matter how much he offers. Because real professionals don’t stay loyal just because someone pays. And for PR person being loyal is most critical condition.
PS. “Watching back” suggestions sound ridiculous really… unless Alda decides to rival BTB in financial business or BTB decides to rival her in blogging
Yes, Alda, but they’re writing in Icelandic; you’re putting it out there in English. Reporters in New York went after Boss Tweed for years, but it wasn’t until Thomas Nast started attacking him with cartoons that he got nasty. Tweed is reported to have said, “My constituents can’t read, but they can understand those damned cartoons.”
I think this woman is doing anti-PR. Or maybe she has a special gift for PR that I do not understand. If he was working with the mob it would be fun to run a sting on him. Float a story (in the Sun) that he is ready to squeal on the mob, then stage a fake arrest, etc. If the Russians kill him, then he was working with the mob and if they don’t then arrest him anyway.
I wonder what the PR lady would think of that!
Read your post again yes she did go on 2 posts (clicks whatever), so well Alda Sigmarsdóttir or is that Alda Cigarsdóttir, you seem to have got Icelanders to finally contribute to your Blog apart from Hildgunnar anyway, Do you think that the Brits and the Dutch may be right and well your country is run by total crooks as opposed to decent honourable countries like the US and UK who have great guys like W and Princess Tony.
PS Hows foreign deposits in Landsbanki going these days ?
However Icelanders are quite good, can we have your Landsbanki in a straight swap (credit default swap structured investment vehicle AAA+ rated) for our Anglo-Irish bank.
http://www.independent.ie/national-news/taxpayers-put-euro210m-a-week-into-toxic-bank-2319430.html
Read and weep
As Knute Rife and others have commented: selective Icelandic/English reporting is endemic. Language is used as a weapon by the spin doctors. The Icelandweatherreport is one of the few sources that don’t do this self censorship thing (keep it up Alda). With the advent of reasonable Google translations I have even noted that Morgunblaðið never seem to put the more punchy articles on their free website either.
As a side note, Brat – Brother, a movie that plays in St. Petersburg in the ’90s. Very gritty, lots of violence, not quite serious action movie. How often do you have the contract killer be the sympathetic guy? In any case, your story could have fit right in there.
http://www.amazon.com/Brother-Sergei-Bodrov-Jr/dp/B000KGGIPK
@D_Boone that’s because Dave wants to forget the past and move on ha ha.
Alda, I recall an interview with Björgólfur senior (IIRC) before the crash (and, I belive, before he bought the Landsbanki) where he discussed the years in Russia and when asked about the mafia his reply was “When in Rome……………..”
Kevin — KING Dave. Needs to be differentiated from Any Old Dave.
Alda — He needs to be reminded that he is WORSE than Any Old Dave…
Few have a mess like that on their hands and still manage to be handsomely rewarded for it.
In that respect he is much more like Bonus Johannus than he likes to think he is.
… or BTB decides to rival her in blogging”
Alexander, BTB actually does have a blog. You might guess, how it is called. All in Icelandic, of course, as he wants to be friends with Icelanders again, I suppose. But I doubt that this is a rival for Alda’s blog – unless he starts blogging about his Russian years.
I think you can sleep safe Alda but this is just the best thread.
Poor Ragnhildur Sverrisdóttir has tried to bully her way only to end up giving us the best fun in months of blogging. The trick is to keep her at it.
Her sponsors in my opinion are definitely scoundrels of the Russian ilk. If there was some doubt before Ragnhildur’s cheesy indignation, there is none now.
Continuing the David-drift, Iris Erlingsdottir wrote this yesterday:
(To put it in context, hiring the former prime minister and Central Bank chairman as the paper’s editor would have been similar to the Washington Post having, following Watergate, hired Nixon as its editor).
http://www.grapevine.is/Home/ReadArticle/What-Are-We-Worth
I’d not seen that particular comparison before, but it sums the situation up nicely.
Now why can’t we hear somebody in the Althingi talking like Iris?
I suppose they’d have to form a committee, to discuss forming a committee, to discuss forming a committee, to discuss…
…well, for example, whether such forthrightness is appropriate in the Althingi, or whether Icelandic law actually allows the prosecution of criminals, or even whether the country is actually allowed to create new laws.
That should take about 75 years…
“To put it in context, hiring the former prime minister and Central Bank chairman as the paper’s editor would have been similar to the Washington Post having, following Watergate, hired Nixon as its editor”
I think, this comparison is probably a bit flawed. The Washington Post played a key role in uncovering the Watergate scandal, whereas the poor journalistic performance of Morgunblaðið was rather one reason more for the Icelandic crash.
I read the Iris article and found it interesting. IMO, the bloggers need there own political party. That is the only way to find a economic model for a free and sound press, and healthy society. The F provides support for a family of gangsters and pirates who have plundered the country and robbed it blind. The M provides support for an oligarchy of thieves who have plundered the country for a generation. They are not going to give up power out of their own free will.
Iris needs to be talking AT the Althing.
Great post. One of the only reporters with guts in this country. Good job. The nerve of these people (team BTB) is unbelievable.
Keep up the good work.
in the end btb and david with his 360.000 $/year salary are peanuts in compare to what to come.
the icelandic government might be more concerned about these two puzzle pieces. the readers of the iwr are no nut-cases so turn off television, connect the dots and start to think…
dot 1: http://www.icenews.is/index.php/2010/08/05/wikileaks-told-to-hand-over-remaining-afghan-documents/
dot 2: http://buildingwhat.org/
Hey, folks! for light relief, I’ve found something positive to say about BTB:
If it’s true that he got involved with the Russian rats, then the current mess is not his fault, because once you start with those guys, you CAN’T get out.
Of course he should have known that beforehand, but, frankly, I don’t think he’s too bright, and of course he hardly had a decent role model in his father…
Now then, after me… “Awwwwwwwww, the poor thing…”
End of positive thinking for today.
And, following that, back to the appalling reality again – in the TV news – every single day.
On another note of despair, what’s that with Spaugstofan?
Didn’t Pall Magnusson even put up a fight to keep the station’s best and most-popular programme? Isn’t that like Google just keeping its garage and three employees and letting somebody else do the other stuff?
I suspect the truth about that would be similar to a scene from one of the priceless old British radio comedy programmes, “The Goon Show” from the 1950s:
Ned Seagoon: “Well, didn’t you try to stop them?”
Caretaker: “I couldn’t, mate; you see, they broke through by putting money in my hand.”
Oh, and Kris’s idea about bloggers having their own political party may have been a wisecrack, BUT IT IS, IN FACT, THE ANSWER.
I’m hoping for some follow-up on that one, and I’m in.
Rik — did you see this? http://baggalutur.is/frettir.php?id=5026
Heheheh.
Incidentally, it’s remarkable how many times I’ve heard the “not too bright” remark about BTB recently. That seems to be the prevailing opinion of him around these parts.
Rik, did Páll Magnússon put up a fight to keep Spaugstofan? Nope, he fired them…
I was serious about the bloggers going political. They may want to join in with the best party. BTB and the IP need to be run out of town. Can’t do that with a double cappuccino and a keyboard!
On a side note, I’ve always referred to David Odfellow as Iceland’s Rasputin minus the thing for the ladies. Too dull for that sort of thing.
If I were editing the script for BTB I would have cut out the comment about money heaven. Villains should have more bite to them.
The Russian angle is being overplayed. I bet that they just had to pay some hefty protection money and promise good prices at the laundromat (Landsbanki).
Yet more Icelandic humour on Alda’s Link Google translate can only do so much, right now the temperature in Reykjavik is 14 c and its overcast and raining so my iphone says.
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