WANTED

Sigurdur Einarsson

The international manhunt comes amid more claims of suspected criminal activity among
bankers involved in Iceland's financial crash of October 2008.

Another collapsed Icelandic bank, Glitnir, yesterday filed a lawsuit accusing
billionaire retail investor Jon Asgeir Johannesson of a $2bn (£1.35bn) fraud
that allegedly involved "siphoning money out" to prop up his own companies.

The former investor in House of Fraser, Debenhams, Woolworths and
Hamleys accused the bank of peddling "gossip".

The collapse of Iceland's banks, which cost the British taxpayer £8bn, is now
the subject of more than 20 police investigations.

Mr Einarsson, who lives in West London, is now listed on the website of
Interpol as "wanted". Iceland's special prosecutor issued an
international arrest warrant for him yesterday, describing the banker as
1.8m tall, 114kg in weight, bald and with blue eyes.

The former executive chairman of Kaupthing has previously
blamed the bank's collapse on Britain - in particular Gordon Brown's
use of anti-terrorist laws to freeze its assets.

His former co-chief executive, Hreidar Mar Sigurdsson, was arrested last week
on suspicion of falsifying documents and market manipulation. He is still in
police custody. Both he and Mr Einarsson have previously denied any
wrongdoing over Kaupthing's collapse.

According to Icelandic media reports, Mr Einarsson has told the prosecutor's
team that he is willing to return to his home country to help with their
inquiries on the condition that he is not arrested on arrival.

A special report by Iceland's parliament recently showed that Kaupthing
secretly owned almost half of its own shares.

The bank's actions are also under investigation by the UK Serious Fraud Office, following claims of misleading British savers and huge loans to
related parties.

Two-thirds of Kaupthing's clients were based in London, including high-profile businessmen such as Robert Tchenguiz, Simon Halabi and the Candy Brothers.

After its loan book was leaked on to the internet last August, it showed key shareholders and owners were the bank's main borrowers.