British Prime Minister David Cameron on Thursday said he had a stake in an offshore fund set up by his father but sold it four months before he assumed office. The revelation comes in the backdrop of mounting pressure following the major leak of data from Panama that disclosed investments by the world's rich and powerful in tax havens. Cameron had earlier said he and his family did not benefit from any offshore funds.
According to Cameron, he had a £30,000 stake in a Bahama-based trust set up in 1980s by his father, who was a stockbroker. "We owned 5,000 units in Blairmore Investment Trust, which we sold in January 2010. That was worth something like £30,000," he said on British television channel ITV. He said he had paid income tax on the money he made from the sale of the unit he claimed he bought in 1997.
Several world figures have been implicated in the papers leaked from Panamanian law firm Mossack Fonseca including Iceland Prime Minister Sigmundur Gunnlaugsson, who resigned on Monday. Several governments have begun looking into data from the exposé, including Pakistan’s after Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif and his family were mired in allegations following the leak. India also formed a panel to investigate the matter.
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