Appeal court clears prosecutor to investigate Jón Óttar

Iceland’s Court of Appeal has confirmed that District Prosecutor Ólafur Þór Hauksson is not disqualified from investigating alleged bribery and money laundering by former police officer Jón Óttar Ólafsson while he worked for Samherji, mbl.is reports.

On July 31, the court upheld a July 3 ruling by Reykjavík District Court rejecting Jón Óttar’s request to discontinue the District Prosecutor’s handling of his role in the so-called Samherji case because of alleged conflicts of interest involving the office and its staff.

Jón Óttar worked for the Special Prosecutor’s Office, the predecessor to the District Prosecutor’s Office, from 2009 to 2011. He has been a suspect in two separate cases involving alleged offences committed during that period.

The first case began when Special Prosecutor Ólafur Þór Hauksson, who is now District Prosecutor, filed a complaint with the Director of Public Prosecutions on April 26, 2012. The Director of Public Prosecutions dropped the case on February 1, 2013.

A second investigation into alleged offences by Jón Óttar during his work at the office began in 2025. At the Director of Public Prosecutions’ decision, it is now being handled by the police commissioner in South Iceland.

The Court of Appeal said that substantial grounds would be needed for a court to rule that an ongoing investigation was unlawful and should be stopped. Suspicions of offences committed in public office at the Special Prosecutor’s Office could not, by themselves, disqualify the District Prosecutor from investigating and prosecuting entirely unrelated cases.

The court said the District Prosecutor’s involvement in the cases was limited to the office’s statutory duties: filing complaints and notifications with the Director of Public Prosecutions, giving evidence to investigators and providing an opinion on possible state liability for damages.

Jón Óttar also referred to Ólafur Þór Hauksson’s response to media coverage in spring 2025. The court found it natural for him to comment given his position, and said his remarks had been measured and appropriate to the circumstances.

Jón Óttar had not identified any events or statements connected to the investigation of this particular case that suggested the District Prosecutor or the office’s staff had failed to act impartially, the court said.