The Panama leak and its revelations about PM Sigmundur Davíð Gunnlaugsson’s finances have been widely covered in the world press since last night, when the story was simultaneously covered worldwide. More than 100 news media have published information regarding the leak. Four hundred journalists in 80 states have reviewed the papers.
The leak, which includes more than 11 million documents from the notorious Panama law firm Mossack Fonseca, connects numerous former and current heads of state worldwide to offshore companies in tax havens, among them Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko and close associates of Russian President Vladimir Putin.
The story of the leak is the most read one on BBC today. “The prime minister of Iceland has been accused of hiding millions of dollars of investments in his country’s banks behind a secretive offshore company,” BBC states.
The Guardian covers the scandal on its front page: “Iceland’s prime minister is this week expected to face calls in parliament for a snap election after the Panama Papers revealed he is among several leading politicians around the world with links to secretive companies in offshore tax havens.”
Le Monde’s headline reads, “Panama papers: In Iceland, the head of government and two ministers on the hot seat.”
The story was covered on state-run media in Sweden and in Denmark, where revelations about Sigmundur, Putin and football star Leonel Messi are mentioned in the same paragraph. Moreover, the Iceland connection was covered on a special news analysis program of Aftenposten in Norway.
Süddeutsche Zeitung has published extensive coverage of the Iceland connection under the headline “A Storm is Coming” and a picture of Sigmundur and his cabinet.
The interview by a Swedish journalist with Sigmundur, where his ownership of the company Wintris Inc. was originally revealed, has circulated worldwide.
