Morning Star.png Tax-Scandal-Hit Iceland PM Resigns The Morning Star, London, 6 April 2016 Iceland's Prime Minister Sigmundur David Gunnlaugsson resigned last night as the Panama Papers scandal claimed its first political scalp. Earlier in the day Mr Gunnlaugsson, leader of the Progressive Party, asked President Olafur Ragnar Grimsson to dissolve parliament and hold fresh elections because he had lost the support of junior coalition partners the Independence Party. But the president said he could not consider the request without speaking to both parties and mounting pressure - vast crowds had demanded the PM's departure from Monday. 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. China's Foreign Ministry rejected accusations from the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists that relatives of senior Communist Party members, including President Xi Jinping's brother-in-law, had shell companies in tax havens established by the firm, calling them "groundless." From: <http://www.morningstaronline.co.uk/a-7a98-Tax-scandal-hit-Iceland-PM-resign s#.VwSTGvl9600> http://www.morningstaronline.co.uk/a-7a98-Tax-scandal-hit-Iceland-PM-resigns #.VwSTGvl9600 See also: <http://www.telesurtv.net/english/news/The-Man-Who-Wants-to-Impeach-Rousseff -Named-in-Panama-Papers--20160404-0025.html> The Man Who Wants to Impeach Rousseff Named in Panama Papers -- -- You are subscribed. This footer can help you. Please POST your comments to [email protected] or reply to this message. You can visit the group WEB SITE at http://groups.google.com/group/yclsa-eom-forum for different delivery options, pages, files and membership. To UNSUBSCRIBE, please email [email protected] . You don't have to put anything in the "Subject:" field. You don't have to put anything in the message part. All you have to do is to send an e-mail to this address (repeat): [email protected] . --- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "YCLSA Discussion Forum" group. To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to [email protected]. For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/d/optout.
