It's a so small country that family and friend ties in government and administration are hard to avoid, for one thing.

The examples of corruption I'm thinking of are all related to the financial crash and Icesave scandal in Iceland.

Hmmm. Just read over the Icesave Scandal wiki. Doesn't looks os much like corruption as it does the Icelandic government trying to mitigate/avoid the large deposit insurance payments they'd otherwise be required to pay.

Normally most people consider corruption to be some kind of private-public intermingling. But this was all about the public side trying to protect itself (I think?).

Former PM Geir Haarde was on trial for his involvement. The powerful pretty much went in lockstep, with the smoking hot icelandic economy after a growing banking sector, it looked like every icelander benefitted, being able to take loans and buying multiple cars. With the "success", the people in charge let themselves be instruments of a run away modern high-risk banking sector, not their doing their job as regulators.

http://www.voxeu.org/article/government-failures-iceland-ent...