Brynjar questions 14 million króna payment for referendum work

Former MP and Reykjavík city councillor Brynjar Níelsson says a 14 million króna payment to a company owned by Heiða Kristín Helgadóttir for work ahead of a national referendum is exceptionally high. Former prime ministerial aide Lísa Kristjánsdóttir says details of the work and the hours involved should be disclosed. The two spoke on mbl.is’s Spursmál programme.

Heiða Kristín’s company, Nebraska ehf., received more than 14 million krónur from the Foreign Ministry over six months. Brynjar compared the amount with his own work on a report about gold-plating regulations, which he said he completed with two others over several months. He said his invoice was just over one million krónur, and that the other two received similar amounts.

Lísa said she did not object to people being paid for their work, but said there should be enough information to assess the payments. She noted that questions had been raised about whether two people worked on the project, since Heiða Kristín’s company is owned by her and her husband. “Then it should be possible to put that information on the table,” she said.

Programme host Stefán Einar asked what authority ministers have to spend public money on work of this kind. He referred to comments Heiða Kristín made in an interview on the evening of the referendum, saying she had no specific job description and had to deal with unforeseen matters during the campaign. Stefán Einar asked whether a minister should be able to hire someone at public expense to work on their party’s election campaign. “No,” Lísa replied, agreeing that there must be limits.

Brynjar also said the matter should be examined, and questioned whether it would have attracted a different response if another politician had been involved. The discussion also touched on criticism of Áfram Íslands’ campaign finances and the use of public money ahead of the referendum.