To be precise, when asked to deny that the Cameron family did have such assets she said “that is a private matter, I am focused on what the government is doing”, Reuters reported.
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But Mossack Fonseca, the firm at the center of the documents, is calling foul. Its specialty is creating shell companies, with undisclosed owners, designed to evade taxes and launder money.
China dismissed reports that kin of its politicians, including premier Xi Jinping, own offshore companies. China’s foreign ministery denounced the reports as “groundless”.
So far, fallout from the leaks has prompted investigations and calls for resignation.
Assad’s billionaire cousin Rami Makhlouf, who is facing sanctions, was also shown by the leaks as long having registered companies in tax havens. “You’re actually sheltering a large number of people who ought to be paying tax to the British government for the services for people from whom you’ve made the money”, he said. Several hundred French citizens reportedly feature among the individuals mentioned. “The prime minister owns no shares”, it said. The reports have prompted calls for a no-confidence vote in parliament against him.
Yet in the United Kingdom. government leaders are calling for increased accountability.
Italian weekly L’Espresso said about 1,000 Italian clients turned up in a database of offshore accounts cited in the media investigation, including Luca Cordero di Montezemolo, the chairman of carrier Alitalia and head of Rome’s 2024 Olympics bid.
The article on the ICIJ’s website said Dmitry Rybolovlev and his ex-wife had declined to comment.
“The Prime Minister can’t raise a finger to save our steel industry but at the drop of a hat he can personally intervene to undermine European Union efforts to clamp down on tax avoidance”.
A spokesperson from the tax authorities said the information from the leak “strengthens our campaign, launched past year, aimed at convincing Israelis who have not declared their fortune overseas to do so without facing penalties”.
It has not been proven the couple stood to gain financially from the offshore holding, and the ICIJ noted only that Gunnlaugsson had “violated Iceland’s ethics rules”.
Henry said while the actions described in the documents are not necessarily illegal – a judicial body will have to make that determination – the practices are indefensible and prosecutors are investigating the documents. Some articles that covered the allegations concerning allies of Russian President Vladimir Putin have since been deleted.
Putin’s spokesman Dmitry Peskov said there is nothing to implicate the president.
FC Barcelona also said in a statement that it will support Messi however it can.
But his failure to say whether he or his family would benefit in future only intensified media speculation, with the story splashed across many newspaper front pages on Wednesday.
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Blairmore Holdings, set up by Ian Cameron in 1982, held board meetings overseas and allegedly placed up to 50 Caribbean officers including a lay bishop in executive positions to legally avoid being taxed as a British company.
