UPADTE at 12:05 p.m. April 5: Iceland’s Prime Minister has resigned. Please see the latest article here.
Iceland’s government has been in turmoil after data from Panama law firm Mossack Fonseca was leaked on April 3, which revealed that the prime minister and his wife set up an offshore company and failed to disclose it when he entered parliament in 2009
Prime Minister Sigmunder David Gunlaugsson called for a dissolution of parliament and a new election after leaked documents revealed by the the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists showed that he, along with his wife, owned a British Virgin Islands shell company called Wintris Inc. The data breach revealed share certificates that show the couple as the owners of the offshore company Wintris.
Since the Mossack Fonseca document leak, there have been calls for Gunlaugsson’s resignation. Lawmakers claim that the ownership of the offshore company is a massive conflict of interest with his public position.
In regards to setting up the company offshore in Panama, the Icelandic prime minister has denied any wrongdoing.
The prime minister was asked about the offshore holdings that the data implicated on him and his wife during an interview with a Swedish broadcaster. He walked out of the interview saying, “What are you trying to make up here? This is totally inappropriate,” according to The Guardian.
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