At least 10,000 people protesters in Iceland on April 4, demanding to prime minister resign.
Iceland's Prime Minister Sigmundur David Gunnlaugsson resigned on April 5 as the Panama Papers scandal claimed its first political scalp, Morning Star Online said.
It came a day after at least 10,000 protesters took to the streets calling for Iceland's prime minister to resign after it was revealed he had benefited from offshore investment accounts in tax havens, Democracy Now said. More than 28,000 people (almost 10% of the entire population) signed a petition demanding his resignation.
Democracy Now quoted demonstrator Einar Bergmundur as saying: "I'm just protesting the corruption of the government. The prime minister has been hiding his money in Tortola and lying about it. The financial minister has also been lying about his participation in secret companies. And everybody is just fed up with this."
Details of Icelandic Prime Minister Sigmundur David Gunnlaugsson's offshore account were exposed on April 3 as part of the Panama Papers — a massive journalistic expose revealing how a Panamanian firm had set up a global network of shell companies for heads of state, politicians, CEOs and celebrities to store their money offshore to avoid taxes and oversight.
Morning Star said: "Documents leaked from the Mossack Fonseca law firm showed Mr Gunnlaugsson had failed to declare a 50 per cent stake in Wintris, a British Virgin Islands-based company which he and his wife used to stash their family fortunes, when he was elected to parliament in 2009. He later sold Wintris to his wife, Anna Sigurlaug Palsdottir, for $1.
"The company had investments in the bonds of three Icelandic banks, meaning when Mr Gunnlaugsson — elected on an anti-banker platform following the financial crash — struck a deal with the creditors of failed financial institutions his wife was a direct beneficiary.
"The mushrooming scandal also forced the resignation in Chile yesterday of the head of the country's branch of Transparency International after he was linked to five shell companies set up by Mossack Fonseca, which is now under investigation by the Panamanian state prosecutor's office."
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