Iceland Prime Minister Sigmundur David Gunnlaugsson Resigns After Being Named in Panama Leaks
Sigmundur David Gunnlaugsson was prime minister of Iceland from May 2013 to April 2016. (Control Arms / CC BY-SA 2.0)
The fallout from the Panama Papers has begun. The first prominent casualty is Iceland Prime Minister Sigmundur David Gunnlaugsson.
The European politician resigned on Tuesday after being implicated in the document leak. According to The New York Times, Sigurdur Ingi Johannsson, a government minister and deputy chairman of the Progressive Party, made the announcement to state broadcaster RUV and will replace Gunnlaugsson as prime minister of Iceland. Gunnlaugsson will remain as chairperson of the Progressive Party.
The Times reports:
Mr. Gunnlaugsson had insisted on staying in office after the leaked documents revealed that he and his wealthy partner, now his wife, had set up a company in 2007 in the British Virgin Islands through the law firm, Mossack Fonseca. The documents also suggested that he sold his half of the company to her for $1, on the last day of 2009, just before the implementation of a new law that would have required him as a member of Parliament to declare his ownership as a conflict of interest.
Mr. Gunnlaugsson had said that the leak contained no news, adding that he and his wife, Anna Sigurlaug Palsdottir, had not hidden their assets or avoided paying taxes.
But the company, Wintris Inc., lost millions of dollars as a result of the 2008 financial crash, which crippled Iceland, and the company is claiming about $4.2 million from three failed Icelandic banks. As prime minister since 2013, Mr. Gunnlaugsson was involved in reaching a deal for the banks’ claimants, so he is now being accused of a conflict of interest.
The Panama Papers is the biggest leak in history with 2.6 terrabytes of data acquired by journalists and 72 current or former heads of state implicated. All of the leaked information may not be released, but don’t expect Gunnlaugsson to be the last person to face repercussions.
—Posted by Eric Ortiz
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Source: http://www.truthdig.com/eartotheground/item/iceland_prime_minister_sigmundur_david_gunnlaugsson_resigns_20160405/
This is just sad. This guy threw the criminals out of parliament in Iceland and he jailed the corrupt bankers that put them into economic disaster. So he avoided taxes. Look at how many American congress and presidents who avoid paying american taxes. He brought Iceland PROSPERITY and because of the media the Icelandic people turned on him. You don’t treat a hero like that. You make him pay for the taxes that he owes and fine him. If you don’t trust him as PM you get him a good paying job because that is what you do to heroes. Now the former corrupt PM is going to be reelected in Iceland and the corrupt bankers are out of jail to destroy ICeland’s economy all over again and the hero is thrown to the wolves. Iceland will be back in economic despair before you know it. The sheeple love being treated like dirt and that is what Iceland is going to get with interest.
This is what our Founding fathers warned us about. Liberty has to be defended at all times or you will lose it. Iceland is going to lose it the way America has already lost it.