Iceland's former PM taken to court over bank crisis

Iceland's parliament, the Althing, decided Tuesday night to send former Prime Minister Geir Haarde to a special court for his role during the financial crisis of 2008, according to reports reaching from Reykjavik.

The Althing made the decision with 33 votes against 30. It is the first time in Iceland's history that a former prime minister faces possible criminal charges.

A commission of the Althing ruled earlier in September that Haarde and three other former ministers had been found guilty of serious mistakes during the financial crisis at the end of 2008.

But the Althing declined to pursue complaints against former Foreign Minister Ingibjorg Solrun Gisladottir, former Finance Minister Arni Mathiesen and former Economy Minister Bjorgvin Sigurdsson.

Haarde, 59, had stepped down to fight cancer in January 2009, just after the collapse of the country's banking system.

Source: Xinhua