The only politician in the world to stand trial for their role in the 2008 financial crisis will learn his fate when a court in Iceland rules on whether the island's former prime minister was grossly negligent or not in his handling of the crisis.

Geir Haarde, 61, has pleaded innocent to four charges alleging that his negligence in carrying out his duties contributed to the economic disaster on the North Atlantic island. He could be sentenced to up to two years in prison if convicted.

The verdict on Monday will be announced by 15 members of the Landsdomur, a special court founded in 1905 to deal with criminal charges against Icelandic government ministers. This is the first case to be tried by the court.

Iceland's banking sector ballooned to nine times the nation's annual gross domestic product in a decade of boom, before collapsing under the weight of its debts in October 2008. The country's three main banks collapsed in a single week.

Testifying on March 5, Haarde said neither he nor financial regulators knew the real state of the banks' precarious finances until they collapsed.