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Iceland PM Resigns Over Panama Papers Leak

Iceland PM Resigns Over Panama Papers Leak
folder_openMore from Europe access_time7 years ago
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Iceland's prime minister caused fresh consternation Tuesday night by insisting that he had not resigned following revelations about his ties to offshore companies but had merely stepped aside for an "unspecified amount of time."

Iceland PM Resigns Over Panama Papers Leak

Sigmundur David Gunnlaugsson became the first political casualty of the sprawling Panama Papers tax scandal after the disclosures drew more than 20,000 demonstrators to Reykjavik calling for his resignation.

For the second time in a decade, the island of just 320,000 people has become the center of global attention over financial excesses, even as it remains deeply divided over the collapse of its banks in 2008.

After the details of Gunnlaugsson's ties were published, he at first tried to hold on to the premiership by seeking the dissolution of parliament. But after the president refused to grant the request, government ministers said he would step down as prime minister but carry on as the head of his center-right Progressive party.

Gunnlaugsson later denied that he had formally proposed a dissolution of parliament, in effect accusing the president of lying. Then a government spokesman denied that he had in fact resigned, saying that he had merely asked Sigurdur Ingi Johannsson, the minister of fisheries and agriculture, to take over as prime minister temporarily.

With his resignation, Gunnlaugsson became the second center-right prime minister in Iceland to be forced out in recent years by popular protest after the so-called pots and pans revolt of 2009 led to the resignation of Geir Haarde and the formation of the country's first leftwing government.

Source: News Agencies, Edited by website team

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