The Prime Minister of Iceland, Sigmundur Davíð Gunnlaugsson, told the local TV station Stöð 2 that he will not resign despite mounting pressure. He also continues to insist that he has done nothing wrong, illegal or immoral, and that he did not say anything contrary to truth in the interview with Swedish TV station SVT, which was aired yesterday. However, he did apologize for not having performed well in the interview.
Read more: PM “a phony and a fraud” who refuses to play by the rules of society, damages Iceland’s reputation
According to the Icelandic National Broadcasting Service RÚV the Prime Minister continues to refuse to talk to RÚV. His supporters have claimed the network has unfairly targeted the Prime Minister by covering the scandal.
”The Wintris cabinet”
The Prime Minister has faced mounting criticism in recent weeks after it was revealed that he had been listed as the owner of a mysterious off-shore company in the notorious tax-haven Tortola. His wife has said publicly that the company, Wintris Inc, was really hers and that the listing of the PM as owning half of the company with her had been an error which has been corrected. Numerous media outlets in Iceland have argued many questions still remain.
The existence of the ties was discovered by an international team of journalists working on a massive leak of documents from the Panamanian law firm Mossack Fonseca containing information on thousands of off-shore companies in tax havens. Sigmundur Davíð is the only head of state or government in Western Europe to have connections to a company in a tax-haven. The names of two other members of his cabinet were also found in the Panama Documents.
Icelandic Social media users have joked the cabinet should be called the “Wintris Cabinet”, while others have warned that “Wintris is coming”.
#WintrisIsComing pic.twitter.com/X3HdR76Ocq
— Sigurður Hólm (@siggi_holm) April 3, 2016
Unanswered questions and inconsistencies
According to the Icelandic National Broadcasting Service, which covered the Panama Papers extensively yesterday night, there are numerous inconsistencies in the account offered by the PM about his connections to Wintris Inc.
The Prime Minister and his wife have consistently maintained they did nothing wrong and broke no laws. Both have argued the company had always been owned by his wife, and that he had been listed as its owner due to an “error” by the Icelandic bank Landsbankinn, which helped set up the company. However, the German newspaper Süddeutsche Zeitung it is “highly unlikely” that the PM’s name could have wound up on the papers due to a simple mistake.
The Prime Minister of Iceland, Sigmundur Davíð Gunnlaugsson, told the local TV station Stöð 2 that he will not resign despite mounting pressure. He also continues to insist that he has done nothing wrong, illegal or immoral, and that he did not say anything contrary to truth in the interview with Swedish TV station SVT, which was aired yesterday. However, he did apologize for not having performed well in the interview.
Read more: PM “a phony and a fraud” who refuses to play by the rules of society, damages Iceland’s reputation
According to the Icelandic National Broadcasting Service RÚV the Prime Minister continues to refuse to talk to RÚV. His supporters have claimed the network has unfairly targeted the Prime Minister by covering the scandal.
”The Wintris cabinet”
The Prime Minister has faced mounting criticism in recent weeks after it was revealed that he had been listed as the owner of a mysterious off-shore company in the notorious tax-haven Tortola. His wife has said publicly that the company, Wintris Inc, was really hers and that the listing of the PM as owning half of the company with her had been an error which has been corrected. Numerous media outlets in Iceland have argued many questions still remain.
The existence of the ties was discovered by an international team of journalists working on a massive leak of documents from the Panamanian law firm Mossack Fonseca containing information on thousands of off-shore companies in tax havens. Sigmundur Davíð is the only head of state or government in Western Europe to have connections to a company in a tax-haven. The names of two other members of his cabinet were also found in the Panama Documents.
Icelandic Social media users have joked the cabinet should be called the “Wintris Cabinet”, while others have warned that “Wintris is coming”.
#WintrisIsComing pic.twitter.com/X3HdR76Ocq
— Sigurður Hólm (@siggi_holm) April 3, 2016
Unanswered questions and inconsistencies
According to the Icelandic National Broadcasting Service, which covered the Panama Papers extensively yesterday night, there are numerous inconsistencies in the account offered by the PM about his connections to Wintris Inc.
The Prime Minister and his wife have consistently maintained they did nothing wrong and broke no laws. Both have argued the company had always been owned by his wife, and that he had been listed as its owner due to an “error” by the Icelandic bank Landsbankinn, which helped set up the company. However, the German newspaper Süddeutsche Zeitung it is “highly unlikely” that the PM’s name could have wound up on the papers due to a simple mistake.
