April 7, 2016

British Prime Minister David Cameron Comes Clean About “Panama Papers”

Dan Kitwood/AP

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Just days after dismissing the revelation that his late father managed an offshore fund, calling it a “private matter,” British Prime Minister David Cameron on Thursday admitted to having profited from the very same fund. According to Cameron, he sold his investments for £31,500 (around $44,300) before becoming Prime Minister.

“I want to be as clear as I can about the past, about the present, about the future because frankly I don’t have anything to hide,” Cameron told ITV News.

Cameron’s admission contrasts with earlier statements he made concerning last weekend’s massive Panama Papers leak. The 11.5 million files from the Panama-based law firm Mossack Fonesca traced a number of international leaders and their allies to complex offshore banking arrangements to avoid paying millions in taxes.

Since the leak, Cameron has repeatedly evaded reporters’ questions about whether he profited from his father Ian Cameron’s offshore trust. When asked by Sky News on Tuesday about whether he benefited from the fund at the time, or stood to earn profits in the future, Cameron only answered in present day terms: “I have no shares, no offshore trusts, no offshore funds, nothing like that.”

Cameron’s concession is the latest development in the “Panama Papers” leak. After being named in the documents, Icelandic Prime Minister Sigmundur Gunnlaugsson and Austrian banking CEO Michael Grahammer have both resigned from their posts. The offices of FIFA’s newly-minted president have also been raided.

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