Iceland prime minister resigns over Panama paper scandal

The prime minister of Iceland resigned Tuesday amid reports that he and his wife set up an offshore company with the help of a Panamanian law firm at the center of a massive tax evasion leak, representing the first world leader to step down in the Panama Papers scandal, a government official told local media. Prime Minister Sigmundur David Gunnlaugsson had denied doing anything illegal and said he paid all taxes. Opponents argue his company, set up in the British Virgin Islands, represents a severe conflict of interest because it held investments in failed Icelandic banks that his government was responsible for overseeing. Agriculture Minister Sigurdur Ingi Johannsson told Icelandic broadcaster RUV that Gunnlaugsson would step down as leader of the country's coalition government. Iceland's president Ólafur Ragnar Grímsson has not yet confirmed he has accepted the resignation.
Reports drawn from 11.5 million leaked documents and released over the weekend detailed how and where politicians, businesses and celebrities hide their wealth. The reports by an international coalition of media outlets working with the Washington-based International Consortium of Investigative Journalists are based on documents from the Panama-based law firm Mossack Fonseca, one of the world's biggest creators of shell companies. The Panama Papers also implicate Russian President Vladimir Putin's inner circle, as well as the presidents of Argentina and Ukraine, among others.
The leaked documents allege that Gunnlaugsson and his wife set up a company called Wintris in the British Virgin Islands with the help of the Panamanian law firm.