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Updated 8.38pm
ICELAND’S PRIME MINISTER resigned today, becoming the first political victim of a mushrooming worldwide scandal over hidden offshore financial dealings exposed in the so-called Panama Papers.
Sigmundur Davíð Gunnlaugsson is the biggest casualty so far of a worldwide media probe into 11.5 million leaked documents that purportedly reveal the offshore financial activities of 140 political figures, including 12 current or former heads of state.
“The prime minister told [his party's] parliamentary group meeting that he would step down as prime minister and I will take over,” the Progressive Party’s deputy leader Sigurdur Ingi Johannsson told a live broadcast.
A series of other leaders and stars named in the leaked papers have hit back at the allegations, denying any wrongdoing despite the international furore.
Those named include Russian President Vladimir Putin’s associates, Chinese President Xi Jinping’s relatives, British Prime Minister David Cameron’s late father and celebrities such as Argentine footballing great Lionel Messi.
Iceland’s leader had been under immense pressure after the papers, leaked from a Panamanian law firm, appeared to show that he and his wife Anna Sigurlaug Palsdottir owned an offshore company in the British Virgin Islands and placed millions of dollars there.
Though the prime minister denied ever hiding money abroad, pressure on his government had mounted, with egg-throwing protesters gathering in the streets today and fresh demonstrations planned for tomorrow.
Earlier the president refused him permission to dissolve the country’s parliament.
President Olafur Ragnar Grimsson, who cut short a visit to the US to return to Reykjavik earlier to deal with the crisis, told a televised press conference he wanted to consult the government’s junior coalition member before making a decision.
Huge protest
Huge crowds poured into the square outside parliament in Reykjavik last night calling for the prime minister to step down over financial records showing that he and his wife bought a company in the British Virgin Islands in 2007.
He sold his 50% share to his wife for a symbolic sum of $1 at the end of 2009.
But when he was elected to parliament for the first time in April 2009, as a member of the centre-right Progressive Party, he neglected to mention his stake in his declaration of shareholdings.
Bankers
As the crowds gathered outside parliament, he told public broadcaster RUV he regretted not revealing this sooner.
The issue is particularly sensitive in Iceland, a country marked by the excesses of the 2000s when senior bankers used shell companies in tax havens to conceal their dealings in risky financial products.
Police said the crowds that turned out in Reykjavik last night outnumbered the thousands who in 2009 brought down the right-wing government over its responsibility in Iceland’s 2008 banking collapse.
Iceland’s big banks collapsed in October 2008 after borrowing beyond their means to fund ambitious investments abroad. Before their collapse, their liabilities were worth more than ten times Iceland’s total GDP.
The crash led to an unprecedented financial crisis, a deep recession and a bailout from the International Monetary Fund.
Tax havens
Gunnlaugsson, a former journalist, insists that despite the financial turbulence he was never tempted to move his money offshore and that his wife paid all her taxes in Iceland.
“She has neither utilised tax havens nor can you say that her company is an offshore company,” Gunnlaugsson said on his website.
In an interview with Swedish public television SVT recorded last month, excerpts of which were aired in Iceland on Sunday, he became visibly upset after being repeatedly asked about his wife’s company, eventually storming out of the room.
“It’s like you are accusing me of something,” he declared.
‘Lack of faith’ in Iceland
Elected prime minister in 2013, 41-year-old Gunnlaugsson was seen as a refreshing change from the political old guard, which was accused of having turned a blind eye to the banks’ reckless investments.
His wife, also 41, is the daughter of a businessman who made a fortune from having Iceland’s only Toyota dealership.
On 15 March, before details of the Panama Papers appeared in international media, she took to Facebook to acknowledge the existence of Wintris, the company that she and Gunnlaugsson acquired in 2007 to manage her inheritance from her father.
She said that with the help of international consultancy KPMG she had made sure to pay all her taxes in Iceland.
“The prime minister should immediately resign,” former Social Democratic prime minister Johanna Sigurdardottir said in a message posted on Facebook earlier.
Gunnlaugsson had “displayed his lack of faith in the Icelandic currency and economy by placing his money in a tax haven”, she wrote.
‘I won’t quit’
Gunnlaugsson insisted yesterday he would not resign.
“I have not considered quitting because of this matter, nor am I going to quit because of this matter,” he told Channel 2 television.
A source of particular embarrassment for Gunnlaugsson, who led a public revolt against the drastic repayment conditions initially imposed by countries whose citizens lost money in the banking collapse, is the fact that Wintris is listed among the banks’ creditors, with millions of dollars in claims.
“It is sad that those who … say they will lead by example [and] say that the big plan is to believe in Iceland then decide that their money is better kept elsewhere,” prominent Icelandic historian and intellectual Gudni Johannesson told RUV.
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Well done to the people of cork who donated
Cork 1 Enda n Joan O
Did ye see how they gave an exemption to ESB employees who are very well paid on guaranteed work and gold-plated pensions ,,,,,
Someone somewhere is getting paid lots… It’s not a conspiracy.
Fair play to the people of cork. This guy ran a dirty filthy rapist out of the town. It’s a strange thing but it’s always the downtrodden who will deal with rapists and child mollesters the way they need to be dealt with. Fair play more people needed to deal with rapists.
Despite everything going on in people lives there’s such goodness and giving to others in need.
Well done to the people that donated. As far as the arsonists are concerned, karma is a b1t@h and it will find you.
Glad to see that other comment removed. Hope things come around for him and he gets a bit of good luck and happiness. 13 years on streets is a very long time in so called rich country who can give free homes and education and food to people fr other countries but its own to be homeless. Free education on the promise of when that countries economy takes off they will buy Irish. But still leave their own people homeless.
I work in cork city centre and I often see this guy begging every day. He’s not the worst to be fair but he’s definitely on heroin or something because when u pass him he’s always ‘nodding’ off to sleep. One of the effects of heroin. He also boozes every day and the lady on the radio said it was out of boredom. Sher if he didn’t drink every day and spend his money on drugs surely over a 13 year period he could have saved up enough to get a gaff of his own if he really wanted to better himself!
Maybe in a perfect world Eddie but unfortunately it’s not that simple in many cases.
Eddie exactly. Would you give 2000 to someone on that? He could wind up in jail or dead next week. It’s horrible what happened to him those teens should be ashamed. Hopefully the radio station sorts out the accommodation for him and doesn’t hand him 2000. If I was handed 2000 five years ago I know what I would have done with it.I’m not blaming him, but addiction is a compulsion. It’s exactly the reason you should buy food or something for people who are begging not give them money, by giving money you are enabling them. With all the good intentions in the world, sometimes you have to be cruel to be kind.
Eddie, you make assumptions and judge without walking a mile in this mans shoes. I’m sure he does drink but maybe thats what gets him through. It doesn’t excuse what those teenagers did and with support this may well be a turning point in this mans life. I for one wish him luck.
There’s no way in 13 years he would come close to save for a house if he wasn’t working”
Good luck to this lad it sounds like he needed a bit of support. And just because someone on here has posted they have seen him “nod” once, means absolutely nothing and is completely unfair to assume it is because he is taking drugs.
Justin clearly not a house but to rent somewhere. He was on the radio last week saying he was kicked out of his house for having too many house parties. If u really wanted somewhere to live other than the streets you’d make a conscious decision to quit the booze and drugs
Carmel I said I see him always nodding not just once. U obviously don’t see him daily.
Oh right then. Take the money back lads, he was seen nodding. Get a grip
Nodding because he’s on heroin. It’s a massive problem in the city.
Do you think, Eddie, that maybe being tired because of the lack of a place to sleep might make you nod from time to time? Have you ever been exhausted? Probably not, but had you been do you think people should sneer and suggest you are on heroin?
Saw on old man nodding on a bench in Stephen’s Green earlier, must be on heroin. Moron!
Hope it’s a happy ending for him
“To buy a paper”
What is the problem Niall?
That sort of judging attitude keeps people down on their luck down.
Victim blaming is here to stay apparently
Stay classy Niall.
Yeah and handing an addict 2000 could kill them or land them in jail but it wouldn’t be you’d fault would it. He hasn’t been homeless for 13 years for no reason. There are places to go in Cork you just are not allowed in if using drugs. I’m not blaming him for his situation but handing him 2000 is not a good idea. I really hope it works out for him.
What the money is being used for is clearly outlined in the article
Maybe he was ordering the next edition of Horse And Hound while he was down there was he?
It’s good to see that there are still good people doing good deeds and not everyone is as deeply cynical as Niall is.
Oh shut up Niall.
Are people really suggesting that because someone is homeless they shouldn’t buy a newspaper. Yes the article clearly outlined what the money is for. Micheal is the person who lost what was effectively his home and his possessions yet he is being judged and not they young people in our society who thought it was ok to do this. I say best of luck Micheal and if it doesn’t work out please god it will someday. Keep buying the paper educating ones self is one way of keeping the bigotry and narrow mindedness that is evident in these comments at bay !
Niall go do your attention seeking somewhere else. Well done to the cork people.
Your the kind of lad that would save a drowning man by throwing him a stone ,NIall
I apologise for using the word ‘save’ .
Niall, never look down on a person unless you’re helping them up.
The homeless wrap themselves in newspapers on cold nights for insulation, you clueless dick.
Me thinks Niall has a major chip . But I suppose that’s what happens when you join fg .
It took a few low life animals to burn the chaps tent and belongings before people had a collection and raised two grand yet it costs on average 70k a year to house a prisoner in Ireland ..
Why is he buying a paper? He could have put that euro towards a 100% mortgage
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