Baugur founder guilty of manipulating books

Jon Asgeir Johannesson, the founding chief executive of acquisitive Icelandic investment group Baugur, has been found guilty of false accounting by an Icelandic court. He was accused of using a credit invoice to falsely inflate Baugur's accounts and was sentenced to a three-months suspended prison sentence, which will be appealed by his lawyers. According to a spokesman for the group - which owns a number of British retailers including Karen Millen, Oasis and House of Fraser - Baugur believes in Johannesson's innocence and will continue to support him.

The chief executive was initially charged with 40 offences, but in the past five years has been acquitted or found not guilty of all by one of them. He claimed the investigation into the group's financial practices was a political move by the Icelandic government, which was denied. Meanwhile, Johannesson and Baugur intend for business to go on as usual.