This article is from the source 'nytimes' and was first published or seen on . It last changed over 40 days ago and won't be checked again for changes.

You can find the current article at its original source at http://www.nytimes.com/2016/04/08/world/europe/vladimir-putin-panama-papers-american-plot.html

The article has changed 5 times. There is an RSS feed of changes available.

Version 0 Version 1
Vladimir Putin Says Allegations in Panama Papers Are an American Plot Vladimir Putin Says Allegations in Panama Papers Are an American Plot
(about 9 hours later)
MOSCOW — President Vladimir V. Putin dismissed on Thursday reports based on leaked legal documents that some of his close associates had shoveled around $2 billion through offshore accounts in the Caribbean, calling the allegations an American plot to try to undermine Russian unity. MOSCOW — The reverberations from a leaked trove of Panamanian documents rippled through several nations on Thursday, with President Vladimir V. Putin of Russia calling the exposure of a proliferation of shell companies and tax havens an American plot, while Iceland picked a new prime minister and Prime Minister David Cameron of Britain admitted that he had profited from an offshore trust.
The Russian president, making his first public remarks on the subject, also defended the cellist Sergei P. Roldugin, an old and close friend who was named in reports about the leaked documents, known as the Panama Papers. The cellist was at the center of a scheme to hide money from Russian state banks offshore, the reports said. After days of contention, Mr. Cameron admitted that he had earned money through an offshore trust established by his late father, who was named as a client of Mossack Fonseca, the law firm at the center of the documents known as the Panama Papers.
Mr. Putin said that Mr. Roldugin, like many Russians, had tried his hand at business, in his case to support his love of music by getting the money to buy expensive instruments. Mr. Cameron told ITV News that he and his wife, Samantha, owned shares in Blairmore investment trust, before selling them for about £30,000, or $42,160, in 2010, the year he became prime minister.
“Almost all the money he earned he spent on musical instruments that he bought abroad,” Mr. Putin said at a public forum for regional journalists in St. Petersburg, broadcast live by state-run television. The musician had then donated the instruments to government institutions. The dividends were taxed, Mr. Cameron said, adding that he had never tried to hide the fact that his parents were wealthy. He had, however, been on the defensive over the issue since Monday, when his office initially described the question of his investments as a “private matter.”
On paper, Mr. Roldugin’s shares in various enterprises linked to friends of Mr. Putin, especially Bank Rossiya, give him a net worth of hundreds of millions of dollars. Mr. Roldugin is the artistic director of the House of Music, which trains classical musicians in St. Petersburg. The Panama Papers were also embarrassing for Mr. Cameron because they identified the British Virgin Islands, an overseas territory of Britain, as a major center of offshore activity. That prompted critics to call into question Mr. Cameron’s claims to be leading the international fight against tax evasion.
“I am proud to have friends like him,” Mr. Putin said, calling Mr. Roldugin a “brilliant musician.” “David Cameron, who described the use of complex tax avoidance schemes as ‘morally wrong,’ has been forced to admit that he held shares in a fund now linked to tax avoidance,” said Tom Watson, the deputy leader of Britain’s opposition Labour Party.
There was an immediate, somewhat mocking reaction on social media, with many people questioning the president’s version. Sergei Parkhomenko, a journalist often critical of the government, wrote on Facebook that at $6 million apiece, the $2 billion reportedly stashed offshore was enough to buy more than 300 of the rare violins made in the 17th and 18th century made by Antonio Stradivari. In Moscow, Mr. Putin dismissed reports based on the legal documents, which showed that some of his close associates had moved about $2 billion through offshore accounts, calling the accusations an American plot to try to destabilize Russia.
Mr. Putin noted that his name had not been in the leaked documents, but that it was plastered all over the reports about them. Mr. Putin, in his first public remarks on the subject, noted that none of the accusations were aimed at him directly, because he was not named in the papers, even if the international coverage has focused on him.
The Russian president rolled out the standard Kremlin excuse for any bad news regarding Russia from abroad. Russia, he said, deprives the West of its monopoly on economic and military power, which irritates the leading nations. “Your humble servant is not there; there is nothing to talk about,” he said at a public forum for regional journalists in St. Petersburg that was broadcast live by state-run television.
So the West dreams up plots to undermine the “unity and cohesion” of Russia, which is “an exercise in futility,” he said. Mr. Putin also defended the cellist Sergei P. Roldugin, an old, close friend who was named in the leaked papers. Mr. Roldugin was at the center of a scheme to hide money from Russian state banks, the reports said.
Specifically, he named Washington, saying that WikiLeaks had reported that the Panama Papers were an American-funded plot. Mr. Putin said that Mr. Roldugin had tried his hand at business to support his love of music. “He is a minority shareholder in one of our companies and makes some money out of it, but not billions of dollars, of course,” Mr. Putin said. “That is nonsense.”
“Behind all that, there are certain officials and official agencies of the very same United States,” Mr. Putin said. “WikiLeaks has just shown that.” Mr. Roldugin used the money to import musical instruments, Mr. Putin said. “Almost all the money he earned he spent on musical instruments that he bought abroad,” he said, adding that Mr. Roldugin recently began donating the instruments to government institutions.
The WikiLeaks organization, which grew out of the release a decade ago of a huge trove of American government documents, posted several somewhat-contradictory messages on Twitter about the subject. On paper, Mr. Roldugin’s shares in enterprises linked to friends of Mr. Putin, especially Bank Rossiya, give him a net worth of hundreds of millions of dollars. “I am proud to have friends like him,” Mr. Putin said, calling Mr. Roldugin a “brilliant musician.”
“US govt funded #PanamaPapers attack story on Putin via USAID,” said one on April 6, for example. “Some good journalists but no model for integrity.” There was an immediate reaction on social media, with many people questioning the president’s version of events. Sergei Parkhomenko, a journalist, wrote on Facebook that at $6 million each, the $2 billion reported to have been stashed offshore was enough to buy more than 300 of the rare violins, cellos and other stringed instruments made in the 17th and 18th centuries by Antonio Stradivari.
After the Russian state news media began citing WikiLeaks as proof that the Panama revelations had been all an American plot, the WikiLeaks Twitter account said, “Claims that #PanamaPapers themselves are a ‘plot’ against Russia are nonsense.” Mr. Putin also rolled out a standard Kremlin excuse for any bad news regarding Russia from abroad. Russia, he said, deprives the West of its monopoly on economic and military power, which irks the West.
Coverage of the global scandal in Russia, especially on the main television stations controlled by the Kremlin, has been limited and focused mostly on allegations against others, including President Petro O. Poroshenko of Ukraine. “In this connection, attempts are made to weaken us from within, make us more acquiescent and make us toe their line,” he said. “What is the easiest way of doing this? It is to spread distrust for the ruling authorities and the bodies of power within society and to set people against each other.”
There have been scattered individual protests about the disclosures in Russia. Mr. Putin noted that WikiLeaks had described the leaked Panamanian documents as an American-funded plot. “We now know from WikiLeaks that officials and state agencies in the United States are behind all this,” said Mr. Putin.
On Wednesday, someone hung a poster at a bus stop showing a picture of Mr. Putin wearing what Russians refer to as a Panama hat. (It is a kind of floppy version of the straw original.) The WikiLeaks organization posted several somewhat contradictory messages on Twitter about the subject.
“What Panama?” was written on the poster, which was quickly removed. “US govt funded #PanamaPapers attack story on Putin via USAID,” said one on Tuesday, for example. “Some good journalists but no model for integrity.”
But after the Russian state news media began citing WikiLeaks as proof that the Panama revelations had been an American plot, the WikiLeaks Twitter account said, “Claims that #PanamaPapers themselves are a ‘plot’ against Russia are nonsense.”
In Argentina, a federal prosecutor sought to open a criminal investigation into the business activities of President Mauricio Macri that were made public by the leaked papers. The prosecutor, Federico José Delgado, said in a document that Mr. Macri’s involvement in offshore companies warranted a judicial investigation, chiefly because he did not disclose the activity in required declarations of his assets.
The leaked papers showed that Mr. Macri was a director of an offshore company, Fleg Trading Ltd., which was owned by his father. It was incorporated in the Bahamas in 1998 and dissolved in 2009. Mr. Macri was separately found to have been a director at a second offshore company, Kagemusha S.A., that also involved his father.
Mr. Macri’s office said he had never been a shareholder at Fleg Trading and so was not required to disclose his involvement. “Everything’s in order,” Mr. Macri told the local news media this week.
There has been no official comment on the second company. On Thursday, Mr. Macri, who campaigned on fighting corruption, reiterated that he was innocent. “I have nothing to hide,” he said during a short speech to announce a freedom of information bill.
And in Iceland, Sigurdur Ingi Johannsson, the country’s agriculture and fisheries minister, said that he had secured President Olafur Ragnar Grimsson’s backing to become prime minister.
The announcement came after Sigmundur David Gunnlaugsson stepped down as prime minister when the leaks showed that he had owned an offshore firm with his wife.