Icelandic Bankers jailed

Leper said:
Let's keep the issue to Bankers. The like of estate agents, solicitors etc are a side issue in this and if necessary let these be jailed also if some law can be found that they have broken. But, the bankers were over greedy and behaved irresponsibly (to say the least) setting off a chain reaction which cost many good people lots of money etc. I dont believe all the bankers acted within the law and where proven should be made anwser for their misdeeds.
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So selective justice based on your opinion..... seriously, perhaps we should just start sending people direct to jail and avoid the expense of a trial!
 
Jim2007 said:
So selective justice based on your opinion..... seriously, perhaps we should just start sending people direct to jail and avoid the expense of a trial!
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OK! OK! - I am being selective. We have to start somewhere. Let's start with the Bankers. Let there be a pogram of jailings through the courts. Then we can start on the rest. We have a high rate of suicide in Ireland and I cannot be convinced that pressure by banks because of loans issued by the same banks have nothing to do with their situation.

Otherwise, the Bankers etc get away scott free and the banks will behave dreadfully like they did again. Why should the guilty get away with what they have done? I dont care how full the prisons get. Our children and grandchildren will not have paid the debts the irresponsible bankers caused.
 
Leper said:
OK! OK! - I am being selective. We have to start somewhere. Let's start with the Bankers. Let there be a pogram of jailings through the courts. Then we can start on the rest. We have a high rate of suicide in Ireland and I cannot be convinced that pressure by banks because of loans issued by the same banks have nothing to do with their situation.

Otherwise, the Bankers etc get away scott free and the banks will behave dreadfully like they did again. Why should the guilty get away with what they have done? I dont care how full the prisons get. Our children and grandchildren will not have paid the debts the irresponsible bankers caused.
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Look you are fully entitled to your opinions, but unless you can answer three questions, that is where it stops:

- Who are you going to charge
- Under what law (that existed at the time) are you going to charge them
- Where is the evidence

If you start examining the whole mortgage industry over the period in question, I would fully expect the majority of cases that would be filed would be fraud perpetrated by the borrowers and their agents against the banks!

Somewhere along the lines I can a cross a comment which is very true, it went something like this: "In a bubble borrowers did what borrowers do, banker did what bankers do, but politicians did not to what they should have done" and that was to stop the bubble developing. But then again, it they had, we'd have voted them out.... right?
 
Jim, like I said on at least two previous occasions, I am not a lawyer. I would love to be able to point to a law that the Bankers broke. That said, I dont believe their irresponsibility was within the law (just my opinion) and I think our Fraud Squad should be looking for laws in which they can prosecute. Look around you and you will find evidence everywhere, houses worth 60% less now than six years ago, people unable to pay mortgages, many unemployed because of the recession, the amount of people who took their own lives, Life Savings gone, etc. How much more evidence do you want?

I reiterate just saying that Bankers do what Bankers do is a cop-out (no offence). And if the Bankers worked within the law, what does it say about our country?
 
Leper,
I guess we will have to agree to disagree.
Under a democracy, if people did not break the law, you generally cannot jail them. You are right that over the past few years people have seen property values fall, some are unable to repay mortgages, more are unemployed etc..... But what has that got to do with law breaking. People made mistakes, some borrowed too much, some paid too much for property, some lenders lent too much..... But where is the illegality in that.
None of this is evidence of illegality, stupidity perhaps, but not illegality. So why just jail Bankers ( it might make you feel better, but that's hardly a justification). One of the problems in today's Irish society is the need to feel that we must blame somebody for our predicament (rather than looking in the mirror). It could not possibly be our fault, either Bankers, politicians, economists, bond holders are to blame.....but surely not me. After all I never voted FF, I only borrowed to buy a house (not even a house in Cape Verde islands), I was never told about the oncoming world economic collapse etc etc etc. I will surely feel ( and be ) better off if some Bankers go to jail. Ah yes... That will solve everything...
 
Leper said:
I would love to be able to point to a law that the Bankers broke. That said, I dont believe their irresponsibility was within the law
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How is being irresponsible illegal? We know bankers were careless and reckless in their lending. We know they were greedy too. But none of those are illegal.

So far all we can see that might be illegal is playing around with balance sheets and a possible share price support. And the day a banker is jailed will be a Champagne day for me. But I'm not holding my breath on that.
 
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