Austrian Bank Chief Implicated in #PanamaPapers leak resigns

The head of an Austrian regional bank became on Thursday the latest casualty of the Panama Papers scandal, announcing his resignation but denying any wrongdoing. "At the end of the day what made the difference in taking this step was the prejudgement through the media of Hypo Vorarlberg and of myself in recent days," Michael Grahammer, 51, said. "I remain 100-percent convinced the bank at no time contravened laws or sanctions," he said in a statement, adding that he said he will remain in office until a successor is named.


The bank announced that Mr. Grahammer's resignation on Thursday came as a surprise.

An investigation into the documents by more than 100 media groups, described as one of the largest such probes in history, revealed the hidden offshore dealings in the assets of around 140 political figures including 12 current or former heads of states.

Austria's financial market authority (FMA) on Wednesday began looking over the bank's accounts, and those of fellow Austrian lender Raiffeisen Bank International (FBI), following the allegations.

On Sunday, Germany's Suddeutsche Zeitung published materials it claimed came from the Panamanian Mossack Fonseca company, exposing alleged involvement of a number of world leaders, politicians and celebrities in tax havens schemes.

Mossack Fonseca has refused to validate the information contained in the leaks and accused reporters of gaining unauthorized access to its proprietary documents. It has accused reporters of gaining unauthorized access to its documents and warned that using unlawfully-obtained data was a crime that it would not hesitate to pursue through the courts.


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