Alwaght- Iceland’s government designate Sigurdur Ingi Johannsson, Agriculture Minister, as the new Prime Minister following the resignation of Sigmundur David Gunnlaugsson as the first global politician brought down by the Panama Papers leaks.
General elections, set to occur in spring 2017, will now take place this autumn, a government official told Iceland state television.
Gunnlaugsson quit as prime minister on Tuesday after leaked documents from a Panamanian law firm showed his wife owned an offshore company that held millions of dollars in debt from failed Icelandic banks.
The Prime Minister had been under intense pressure to step down, triggering mass protests in the capital.
Some 22,000 protesters took to the streets of Reykjavik on Monday evening, police said.
On Tuesday evening, protesters gathered in front of the parliament building once again, demanding a change of government.
What is Panama Paper Leak?
International Consortium of Investigative Journalists, a coalition of media outlets, published on Sunday documents of offshore financial dealings of the Politicians, rich and famous figures, based on a vast trove of documents leaked from Mossack Fonseca, a Panamanian law firm.
Mossack Fonseca, the world’s fourth biggest offshore law firm, helps foreigners set up Panamanian shell companies to hold financial assets while obscuring the identities of their real owners.
The giant revelation of confidential documents, so-called Panama Papers, shows how the rich and powerful are able to exploit secret offshore tax regimes in myriad ways.
Eleven million records, 2.6 terabytes information, expose the offshore holdings of, world leaders, some 140 politicians from more than fifty countries, celebrities, Professional athletes, FIFA officials, fraudsters and drug smugglers.
