(From AFP)
The storm unleashed by the so-called Panama Papers continued to swirl Thursday as British Prime Minister David Cameron admitted benefiting from his father’s offshore trust and prosecutors opened an investigation into Argentine President Mauricio Macri.
A host of world leaders, celebrities and sports stars have been caught up in the tempest created by the worldwide media investigation of the 11.5 million documents leaked from Panamanian law firm Mossack Fonseca.
Cameron, who has been on the defensive over the revelations about the secret financial dealings of the rich and powerful, admitted he held a £30,000 stake in an offshore fund set up by his late father.
He told television channel ITV he sold the stake in the Bahamas-based trust in 2010, four months before he became prime minister.
“We owned 5,000 units in Blairmore Investment Trust, which we sold in January 2010. That was worth something like £30,000,” Cameron said. The sum is roughly 37,000 euros or $42,000.
“I sold them all in 2010 because if I was going to become prime minister, I didn’t want anyone to say you have other agendas, vested interests.”
He insisted he had paid income tax on the dividends from the sale of the units, which he bought in 1997. Read more