Daði says ministry will submit Landsvirkjun documents

All documents held by the Ministry of Finance and Economic Affairs concerning the matter involving state-owned company Landsvirkjun will be submitted, Finance Minister Daði Már Kristófersson said, according to mbl.is. He said he could not confirm whether minutes and documents about the company’s internal communications could also be released.

Daði was responding to a question from Sigríður Á. Andersen, an MP for the Centre Party, during an unscheduled question session in Parliament. The discussion focused on meetings between the minister and Landsvirkjun’s board, the chief executive’s involvement and access to records of their communications.

Daði denied that he had been in disagreement with either the board or the chief executive, while reiterating that there had been a disagreement between the board and the chief executive.

Sigríður criticised the chief executive’s absence from meetings between the board and the minister. She said the disagreement should have been discussed with the chief executive present, and asked whether Daði still considered it justified to hold the meetings without the executive.

Daði said the chief executive had not been excluded and had been invited to every meeting except those which, under the board’s rules, were held between the board and the minister. There had been two such meetings, one in each of the past two years, he said. They were part of the finance minister’s regular dealings with the boards of state-owned companies, and similar meetings had been held with boards of other large companies. Daði added that the rules had been set by a previous Landsvirkjun board.

Later, Independence Party MP Guðlaugur Þór Þórðarson asked why all the documents had not already been released, given the minister’s earlier remarks. Daði said he had meant that further documents covering a longer period would be provided.

“The reason I said that more documents would be made available is that those already released cover a limited period and Landsvirkjun alone,” Daði said. He expected the material to cover the current board’s entire term and possibly a longer period, though the relevant questions from Parliament’s Constitutional and Supervisory Committee had not yet been received.

Sigríður also asked about a meeting with the board and chief executive that had been planned for January but did not take place. She said reports had differed on whether the minister postponed it or considered it unnecessary, and asked for emails and minutes to be released.

Daði said Landsvirkjun’s meeting request had not indicated that specific problems were to be discussed. The proposed agenda had been described as matters concerning the company.