Iceland's President Rejects Call to Dissolve Parliament Over #PanamaPapers

Iceland's President Olafur Ragnar Grimsson said Tuesday he could not agree to Prime Minister Sigmundur David Gunnlaugsson's request to dissolve the parliament and hold snap elections.

MOSCOW (Sputnik) — Following a meeting with Gunnlaugsson, the president told reporters that he could not grant the request as he first needs to "determine if there is support for this within the government coalition" and that the prime minister could not provide a confirmation, according to local Morgunbladid newspaper.

A political scandal broke out in Iceland after the release of the so-called Panama Papers. The leak revealed that Gunnlaugsson and his wife owned an offshore creditor company with stakes in three Icelandic banks that collapsed during the 2008 financial crisis.

On Sunday, Germany’s Suddeutsche Zeitung published alleged documents from the Panamanian Mossack Fonseca company in which the newspaper confirms ties to a number of world leaders and their circles to off-shore schemes.

The German publication specifically notes Chinese President Xi Jinping, Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko, Azeri President Ilham Aliev, Moroccan King Mohammed VI, Saudi King Alman ibn Abdul-Aziz al Saud, the late father of British Prime Minister David Cameron, and a number of individuals allegedly close to Russian President Vladimir Putin.