Distribution of parliamentary documents from the parliamentary committee entrusted with the review of the Report of the Special Investigation Commission of Althingi
The report of a parliamentary committee appointed to review the Report of the Special Investigation Commission has been distributed to members of Althingi. The report has been made available on Althingi website. The conclusions of the parliamentary committee on ministers' accountability under the Ministers' Accountability Act No. 4/1963 has also been distributed. Debate on the report of the committee will begin in Althingi on Monday, 13 September, at 10:30 a.m. The time limits for speeches will be extended from the limits provided for in the Standing Orders.
The Special Investigation Committee appointed to investigate the background and causes of the collapse of the Icelandic banks in 2008 returned its report on 12 April 2010. In accordance with Act No. 142/2008 on the Special Investigation Commission, as amended by Act No. 146/2009, the Commission's report was passed to a separate Parliamentary Review Committee following its publication. The Parliamentary Review Committee was elected by Althingi on 30 December 2009; it is composed of members representing all the parliamentary parties. The committee members are Atli Gíslason, chairman, Unnur Brá Konráðsdóttir, vice-chairman, Birgitta Jónsdóttir, Eygló Harðardóttir, Lilja Rafney Magnúsdóttir, Magnús Orri Schram, Oddný G. Harðardóttir, Ragnheiður Ríkharðsdóttir and Sigurður Ingi Jóhannsson. Margrét Tryggvadóttir worked with the committee in the absence of Birgitta Jónsdóttir, particularly in the last weeks preceding the appearance of the committee report.
According to the cited Act, the role of the parliamentary committee is to prepare proposals on the responses of Althingi to the conclusions in the Report of the Special Investigation Commission; to this end, the committee was instructed to submit a report to Althingi on its work pursuant to the provisions of Articles 26 and 31 of Act No. 55/1991 on the Standing Orders of Althing. In addition, the committee may submit proposals on other parliamentary business as required by the matters under review and follow up on recommendations in the Report on improvements of existing rules by passing such proposals to the appropriate standing committee as necessary. In addition, the parliamentary committee was assigned in the sixth paragraph of Article 15 of the Act to adopt a position on the actions cabinet ministers in the course of the events leading up to the economic collapse, followed by an assessment of whether there are grounds for impeachment proceedings before the Court of Impeachment for violation of the Act on Ministers' Accountability under Article 13 of the Act on a Court of Impeachment No. 3/1963.
