Get Out the Shovel

As my grandpa used to say, "Get out the shovel, 'cause you’re going to need it to get through all this bullshit!" That is the bit of wisdom I recalled when I read David Lesperance's answers to the questions put to him about his clients seeking Icelandic citizenship. (http://www.mbl.is/media/77/2877.pdf) I am going to let anyone out there who doesn't know this, in on a little secret. Americans and Canadians are free to invest in Iceland all they want just as they are free to invest in other European countries. They just can't own some of the things they invest in outright here. Is that right or wrong? I will let the Icelanders decide that. Now you can read the puffy little letter that Dave wrote and draw your own conclusions, but the letter is so full of crap I wanted to vomit when I read it.

Let us look at some of the shit, shall we?

David says that he didn't choose Iceland but that he was "approached by Icelanders". Then why does he initially say that his clients were "attracted to Iceland"? Which one is it? Did the clients find Iceland or did Icelander find the clients?

David is a lawyer who "developed a particular expertise in dealing with individuals who are acquiring residency or citizenship" and "includes immigration and citizenship issues, offshore trust and tax planning issues, and the introduction of these clients to banking, accounting, and other professionals. But he writes in the letter that "I have never actually examined the laws relating to privatization or foreign ownership of Iceland’s natural resources." If he is doing his job right, he most certainly has examined those laws, hence the reason he wants citizenship for the clients, so they can own what they invest in.

On the question of whether his clients are fleeing lawsuits and creditors, instead of the longwinded history of American litigation, he could have saved himself the ink and just wrote "YES". 

There is a lot more shit in this letter, especially the sob story about wars and environmental disasters and other heart tugging nonsense like democracy (and here I thought America was land of democracy, at least that is what they taught me in school) but what I would really like to focus on is Northern Lights Energy. Using that shovel and digging through the bullshit, you will find that NLE is at the center of all this mess. NLE signed an agreement to buy 150 electric Range Rovers for some company in England for a whopping 4.5 billion kroner. (BTW who the hell is going to buy a Ranger Rover for 30 million kroner?) But is not a contract to actually purchase. It is what the Americans call a letter of intent. That means that they have an agreement to have an agreement. NLE is not obligated to buy one car, thankfully, because I doubt they actually have the money to buy 5 let alone 150. So they need to get the money from somewhere and I don't think the Icelandic banks will be coughing up a few billion to any more wild schemes for some time. Enter foreign investors needing to hide invest some money, who have been approached by Icelanders and, by some strange coincidence, who also happen to be in love with Iceland, and you have the making for a rather odd citizenship for investment scheme. 

One final statement that Dave made needs to be considered. He wrote "Considering the size of Iceland’s population, it may even find such a program transformational." If Iceland were to prostitute citizenship to strangers for money, Icelanders, I'm afraid, will find out how small and vulnerable their country is the hard way.

If the clients really like Iceland, let them come with there families and there money and live here for the legal period like everyone else. With all the good things said about Iceland in the letter, it should be worth the wait, unless, of course, what was written was bullshit. You already know what I think.

GTB

Spurningar og svör um auðmenn

Athugasemdir

[Jóhann Rafn (IP-tala skráð) 3.4.2011 kl. 03:42]

This is like spoken out of my own mouth.. they obviously think Icelanders are braindead if they think we dont see through this.. and that guy from NLE that was in "ísland í dag" he gave me a really bad impression yuck! We dont need any more björgólfar here 2 are enough i think let alone 10 more!