Lately I’ve had a bit of trouble sleeping. In spite of being mortally exhausted every night, at 2:00am I wake up and can’t get back to sleep for a while. But you know, it just lasts an hour or two and eventually I fall fast asleep.
That can’t be true today for Sigmundur Davíð Gunnlaugsson, prime minister of Iceland, who is among those called out in The Panama Papers for stashing money in offshore tax havens. In an interview before the story broke, Gunnlaugsson explained why his government has found it important to pursue tax dodgers. He said, “… Society is seen as a big project that everyone needs to take part in, so when somebody is cheating the rest of society it is taken very seriously in Iceland. … To some extent is is a question of preserving the values that most people share, at least in our part of the world, that you have a responsibility to pay taxes.”
The interviewer followed up, “What about yourself, Mr. Prime Minister…” And it didn’t go down well for him from that point on.
“Myself?…” he stammered, “…I have always given all of my assets and that of my family up for taxes, so there has… never been any of… me… my assets… hidden anywhere.” Then he chuckled and said, “It’s an unusual question for an Icelandic politician to get, because it’s almost like being accused of something, but I can confirm that I have never hidden any of my assets.”
They then asked him about a specific company, at which point he must have known that he was toast. Evidently not all his assets have been on the table, and evidently some have been hidden.
His halting speech was now accompanied by moments of silence in which he was hopelessly trying to triangulate out of the mess. After a few moments, he just stood up and left.
Now I bet he is having real trouble sleeping.