Finance minister Wouter Bos has ordered an investigation into the accusations of lying levied by Dutch central bank officials at the Icelandic authorities over the collapse of Icesave.

Central bank president Nout Wellink and a former official have both stated they felt the Icelandic regulators lied to them over the financial situation facing Landsbanki, the Icelandic bank which collapsed in 2008.
Wellink, accused of being rude and misleading by a former Icelandic minister, has said he has evidence of the island’s pledge to guarantee all the capital held by Landsbanki subsidiary Icesave prior to it going bust.
No French ban
Meanwhile, the French national bank Banque de France issued a statement on Thursday saying it had never banned Icesave from operating on its territory.
The claim was first made by former Icelandic trade minister Björgvin Sigurdsson who said in Wednesday’s Volkskrant that France had refused to give Icesave access to its markets.
That claim was reiterated on Thursday by professor Edgar du Perron, who investigated Icesave’s collapse for the Dutch government. That report did not include mention of the alleged French blockade.
Another country had also banned Icesave from operating, De Perron said, but did not give further details.
But France says there has never been a ban. ‘Icesave has never submitted an application for licensing in France as a credit institution or investment firm and, furthermore, no notification has been received with a view to carrying out these activities in France,’ the statement said.
However, the Financieele Dagblad said on Friday afternoon it had been told by banking sources that the French authorities dragged out the talks with Icesave for so long that the bank collapsed in the meantime.
Icesave attracted some €1.6bn from Dutch savers before it went bankrupt. The Dutch government lent €1.3bn to Iceland so it could bail out savers. It is still not clear how the money will be repaid and the country is holding a referendum on a controversial repayment scheme next month.