Iceland Prime Minister, Sigmundur David Gunnlaugsson, is the first high-profile victim of Panama Papers leak. Mr Gunnlaugsson resigned after the million offshore account records leaked. The resignation was amid outrage that he sheltered huge sums using such a shell company, at a time when the economy of Iceland was under crisis. Gunnlaugsson’s fall is the biggest fallout so far due to the massive leak.
The country’s agriculture minister has first made the announcement about the stepping down of Mr. Gunnlaugsson. Following this, Iceland’s president refused to dissolve parliament and call a new election. Protests were carried out by thousands of Icelanders outside the parliament building in Reykjavik. No replacement was yet named, while there is no immediate confirmation form the Iceland president regarding the acceptance of the PM’s resignation.
Mr. Gunnlaugson denied the news and denied any wrong doing. He said that he and his wife paid all taxes.
Also read: Panama tax evasion, Amitabh breaks silence
Meanwhile, Russia and China approached in a opposite way by rejecting allegations and suppressing the news concerning the leakage of over 11 million financial documents from Mossack Fonseca, a Panamanian law firm.
Officials of Argentina, Ukraine as well as other countries are also facing numerous questions related to offshore tax-avoidance schemes. The records were first leaked to Germany’s Sueddeutsche Zeitung newspaper. International Consortium of Investigative Journalists have been processing records from the law firm Mossack Fonseca.
- Sumana
