The Panama Papers, as they have become known, have exposed an unprecedented level of detail about the shady, and often illicit, world of offshore banking havens. So far a number of prominent names, among them high level advisors to Vladimir Putin and relatives of the top leaders in the Chinese Communist Party, have appeared as the first of the eleven million pages of documents are examined. However, one time champion of banking transparency Prime Minister Sigmundur Gunnlaugsson of Iceland is the first to fall and is set to step aside, at least temporarily, after it was revealed his wife was associated with a company complicit in the collapse of the nation’s banks in 2008. This revelation lead to a protest that saw nearly %10 of Iceland’s population turn out in the capital to demonstrate against the embattled PM. However, Mr. Gunnlaugsson should not have to feel alone in the scandal tainted wilderness for long as he represents but the first likely to be knocked from power by powerful gusts of popular anger. The question to ask now is only who is next?
See Kylie Maclellan & Ragnhildur Sigurdardottir, Iceland’s leader resigns, first casualty of Panama Papers, Reuters, April 6, 2016.
Special thanks to Brian Cohan (Attorney at Law, Law Offices of Brian J. Cohan, P.C.) for bringing this article to my attention.
