Politicians, Celebs Deny Abuse of Offshore Accounts

The president of Ukraine became the latest prominent politician to deny wrongdoing Wednesday after his name was linked to secretive offshore accounts arranged by a Panama law firm.

The revelations have raised suspicion that such offshore entities were set up to avoid taxes, but Petro Poroshenko denied that was the purpose in his case. Rather, he said, it was necessary to create an offshore holding company to put his candy business in a blind trust when he became president of Ukraine in 2014.

"This is absolutely normal procedure, and I think this is the main difference from the naming of all the political figures in this Panama list," Poroshenko said in Tokyo, where he was meeting with Japan's Prime Minister Shinzo Abe and business leaders.

"If we have anything to be investigated, I am happy to do that," he said. "But, this is absolutely transparent from the very beginning. No hidden account, no associated management, no nothing."

Reports, based on a trove of confidential documents from Panama-based law firm Mossack Fonseca, have purported to expose the offshore arrangements of public officials, businesspeople and celebrities around the world.

Iceland's prime minister became the first casualty of the affair Tuesday, stepping down two days after a video was aired showing him breaking off a television interview over questions about his family's offshore dealings.

Sigmundur David Gunnlaugsson had faced opposition calls to resign over revelations he had used a shell company to shelter large sums while Iceland's economy was in crisis.

The so-called Panama Papers reports, which were coordinated by the Washington-based International Consortium of Investigative Journalists, have implicated a diverse range of figures, including Bollywood actor Amitabh Bachchan.

Bachchan denied any connection to four shipping companies registered in tax havens following reports by The Indian Express newspaper. "It is possible that my name has been misused," Bachhan tweeted late Tuesday.

"I have paid all my taxes including on monies spent by me overseas," he said. "Monies that I have remitted overseas have been in compliance with law, including remittances through LRS (Liberalized Remittance Scheme) after paying Indian taxes. In any event the news report in the Indian Express doesn't even suggest any illegality on my part."