Sigmundur Gunnlaugsson suddenly stood up and left the interview room with a little annoyed. Departure of the Prime Minister of Iceland was ...
Sigmundur Gunnlaugsson suddenly stood up and left the interview room with a little annoyed. Departure of the Prime Minister of Iceland was due to questions of journalists the Guardian about a company called Wintris.
Initially, Gunlaugsson still willing to explain his family's company is known, though haltingly.
"My wife's family sold part of the company. The result is stored in a bank ... Then the bank made an agreement, then formed this company," says Gunlaugsson.
However, he insists did not know anything about the company. Gunlaugsson who knew only that the company always submits tax since its inception in 2007. When asked what assets the company has, he went and said, "Where are you? This is really inappropriate."
Documents signed by Gunnlaugsson's wife, Anna Sigurlaug Palsdottir, in 2015, claiming the company offshore which are the British Virgin Islands was used to save millions of dollars that come from the legacy of the family.
However, an investigation by the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists (ICIJ) along with 107 media organizations in 78 countries to 11.5 million documents belonging to law firms in Panama, Mossack Fonseca , which leaked last year revealed something else.
Since joining the parliament in 2009, Gunnlaugsson known to avoid taxes through Wintris. The company is also known is his, of which over 50 percent of WIntris sold to the wife at a price of $ 1 per share, eight months after sitting in parliament.
Said BBC.com , one of the media who participated in the investigation, Gunnlaugsson has full powers to regulate Wintris, even "without limitation". Court records also mention Wintris had significant investment in the form of bonds of the three major Icelandic banks were closed due to the economic crisis in 2008.
Wintris listed as creditors of millions of dollars in claims in the three banks were bankrupt.
Since taking office as Prime Minister in 2013, Gunnlaugsson has refused to pressure from investors demanding payment of three bank deposits in full. Because, if it happens, it will exacerbate the valuation of bonds owned by Wintris.
Sigmundur Gunnlaugsson is one of 12 leaders of countries whose names appear in the extraordinary scale financial documents leaked. Even heads of state are known to support the anti-corruption movement has also appeared in between.
Some documents show no relationship between several companies offshore with the President of China, Xi Jinping. There is also the President of Ukraine, Petro Poroshenko, who has always claimed he is the net figure in a country full of corruption scandals.
In one part of the leaked documents also revealed how banks, companies and a number of people associated with the Russian President, Vladimir Putin, in a closed maneuver to move large amounts of money.
Putin used some of his companions . First, Sergei Roldugin, musician St Petersburg Music House, which also is godparent first daughter. Second, Yuri Kovalchuk who is the biggest shareholder of Bank Rossiya. In Moscow, the Rossiya Bank known as "purse Putin".
With the help of Mossack Fonseca, a number of companies on behalf of her companions, among others Sonnette Overseas Inck, Sandalwood Continental Ltd., and International Media Overseas SA formed.
Then Mossack Fonseca help hide "money-money Putin" was to companies offshore , one of which is in the country tax-free haven, the British Virgin Islands.
The reaction of the world
Leaking of confidential documents made ​​millions of British Prime Minister, David Cameron, promised to end the crime of tax evasion and secrecy company offshore this.
In 2013, Cameron once asked fellow G8 leaders, including Barack Obama and Angela Merkel, to sign a cooperation on the principles of taxation.
"We need to open up who owns what and where the money is really flowing," Cameron said, as quoted in a typical report on Panama Paper prepared by theguardian.com.
Cameron assess what a number of people who parked their money in large amounts in the company's offshore and taking loans to minimize his tax return, morally unacceptable.
The British National Crime Agency estimates that there are hundreds of billions of pounds of international criminal money laundered annually through British banks.
Since 2004-14, the law enforcement agencies to identify existing properties are worth more than 180 million pounds purchased using the proceeds of corruption, with 75 percent taken from companies offshore.
In the United States alone, states such as Delaware and Nevada, who indeed allow companies registered in anonim-- continue to oppose all reform efforts to force them to be more open.
Country of origin Mossack Fonseca, Panama, also refused to engage in a global plan to exchange information about customers' bank accounts, because they fear the company offshore in their country so no longer competitive. Panamanian officials claimed to be ready to exchange information, but in a smaller scale.
These conditions make it hard for law enforcement must dismantle and stop the evil that all transactions are hidden behind layers of secrecy.
One effective tool to dismantle illicit networks are leaking documents offshore that could drag all these illegal transactions to a more open space.
To Tempo , Indonesian Finance Minister Bambang Brodjonegoro acknowledged that the government has obtained data on thousands of companies offshore and shell companies owned by Indonesian overseas.
"The value of thousands of trillions of rupiah," said Bambang. Tax Forgiveness Act that is being discussed by members of the House of Representatives, he said, is the government's efforts to withdraw all funds.
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