Sunday, June 14, 2009

The UK Ministry of Justice sits on the fence over the Kaupthing debacle

In constitutional terms as a Crown Dependency the IoM comes under the umbrella of the Ministry of Justice. You would think that its political chiefs Lord Bach & Jack Straw would have some concern that the IoM choses to ignore what Gordon Brown has to say about governments protecting savings in the banks in their jusisdiction. Not at all. Gordon Brown's latest pronouncement: "where there is unfairness & irresponsibility we have got to act" runs like water off a duck's back to the IoM government.

The MoJ does not think the Kaupthing debacle is of such a serious order as to require Her Majesty's Government to call upon the IoM government to come into line with UK & g20 policy, or for HMG to consider legislating to enforce compliance with international policy objectives to deal with the banking crisis. Instead it simply supports the IoM government in it resorting to its Depositors' Compensation Scheme to settle the matter.

The MoJ will not come off the fence & change its attitude in respect of the Kaupthing affair unless the economic independence of the IoM is threatened in such a way that the island might become a liability on the UK taxpayer.

1 comment:

  1. The UK & g20 called upon all governments to ensure that all savings in banks in their jurisdiction are protected. The rest of Europe has complied but unfortunately the MoJ does not call upon the IoM as a Crown Dependency to follow suit. This makes for a totally contradictory position. I hope the Foot Report will address this issue.

    Eric (Holland)

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