Panama Papers: Argentina's Macri has 'nothing to hide'

Source: ALJAZEERA

Argentine President Mauricio Macri said he had nothing to hide after revelations in the Panama Papers that he had links with an offshore company.
A federal prosecutor has called for an investigation into Macri's involvement on Thursday.
The president was among scores of global politicians and business figures named in documents leaked from Panamanian law firm Mossack Fonseca, which specialises in setting up offshore companies.

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The son of an Italian-born business tycoon, Macri said he was not legally obliged to declare his connection with the named offshore company as he never had a stake in it.
The president said he was simply director of the Bahamas-based company, Fleg Trading Ltd., now closed, which was created by his father to make investments in Brazil.
"I have acted in accordance with the law and have nothing to hide," Macri said in a televised news conference.
"I did not receive any payment for acting as a director [of offshore companies]. Tomorrow [Friday] I will present myself before the court with all information necessary for the judge to verify that what I have done is correct. I am calm. I have obeyed the law. I have nothing to hide."
Critics say Macri owes a more thorough explanation of this and his alleged connection with another offshore company, Kagemusha SA, registered in Panama, given that such firms are often used to launder money and evade taxes.


Although Clinton is popular among Democrats who view him as a gifted orator and crowd pleaser, he has in the past veered from the carefully calibrated message put out by his wife's campaign, causing problems for her representatives.
During Hillary Clinton’s failed 2008 presidential bid, civil rights leaders and high-ranking Democrats in Congress criticized the former president for statements he made during a heated campaign against then-U.S. Senator Barack Obama. Bill Clinton said Obama's campaign had “played the race card.” Obama became the first U.S. black president in November that year.
Bill Clinton's remarks on Thursday drew criticism online. Some saw him as dismissive of the Black Lives Matter movement, a national outgrowth of anger over a string of encounters in which police officers killed unarmed black people.
Johnetta Elzie, a civil rights activist, wrote online that Clinton "can't handle being confronted by his own record."
"This is like watching a robot malfunction," she wrote.
Earlier in Philadelphia, Sanders, a U.S. senator from Vermont, assailed Clinton as unqualified to be president as the two campaigns became increasingly testy less than two weeks before New York's nominating contest.
"Are you qualified to be president of the United States when you're raising millions of dollars from Wall Street, an entity whose greed, recklessness and illegal behavior helped destroy our economy?" Sanders said at a news conference.
Clinton this week sharply questioned Sanders' credentials and ability to carry out a campaign pledge to break up the big banks.
Spokesmen for Clinton noted she never said the word "unqualified" when she questioned his preparedness for the presidency, but they declined to say whether she believed in that characterization.
Clinton aimed for a more magnanimous tone than her aides when speaking to reporters during a subway ride in New York City.
"I don't know why he's saying that," she said of Sanders calling her unqualified. "But I will take Bernie Sanders over Ted Cruz or Donald Trump any time," she said of the two leading candidates for the Republican presidential nomination.
Sanders returned the sentiment in an interview with the "CBS Evening News" later on Thursday.
"I think the idea of a Donald Trump or a Ted Cruz presidency would be an unmitigated disaster for this country. I will do everything in my power and work as hard as I can to make sure that that does not happen, and if Secretary Clinton is the nominee, I will certainly support her," he said.