Upplýsingafulltrúi segir Sigurð Inga taka við „um óákveðinn tíma“

Sig­mundur Davíð Gunn­laugs­son lagði aðeins til að Sigurður Ingi Jóhanns­son tæki við for­sæt­is­ráðu­neyt­inu í „óákveð­inn tíma.“ Hann hefur ekki sagt af sér og mun halda áfram sem for­maður flokks­ins. Þetta kemur fram í tölvu­pósti til erlendra blaða­manna sem Richard Milne, blaða­maður Financial Times á Norð­ur­lönd­unum, birtir á Twitter-síðu sinni. Þessar upp­lýs­ingar eru einnig komnar inn í frétt Financial Times um málið, eins og sjá má hér.

Póst­ur­inn kom frá Sigurði Má Jónssyni, upp­lýs­inga­full­trúa rík­is­stjórn­ar­innar. Kjarninn hefur fengið póst­inn áfram­sendan og hann má lesa hér að neðan. Kjarninn hefur einnig sent skila­boð á Sigurð Má vegna máls­ins. Hann hefur ekki svarað, en á vef RÚV er vitnað í Jóhannes Þór Skúlason, aðstoð­ar­mann Sig­mundar Davíðs, sem segir ekk­ert óljóst í þess­ari til­kynn­ingu. Sigurður Ingi sé for­sæt­is­ráð­herra í ótil­greindan tíma, sem geti þýtt fram að næstu kosn­ingum. Það að for­sæt­is­ráð­herra hafi ekki sagt af sér sé líka rétt, hann sé enn starf­andi for­sæt­is­ráð­herra þangað til hann skili umboði sínu til for­seta Íslands.

Fréttin hefur verið upp­færð með við­brögðum Jóhann­esar Þórs.

Ladies and gentlemen 

I call your attention to the following information reg­ar­ding the Prime Minister of Iceland. 

For immedi­ate rel­e­ase: 

Prime Minister of Iceland very proud of Govern­ment’s success - sug­gests Progressive Party Vice-Chairman take over the office of Prime Minister for an unspecified amount of time.

Today the Prime Minister of Iceland Sig­mundur David Gunn­laugs­son has sug­ge­sted to the Progressive Party Parli­ament­ary group that the Progressive Party Vice-Chairman take over the office of Prime Minister for an unspecified amount of time. The Prime Minister has not resigned and will continue to serve as Chairman of the Progressive Party.

The Prime Minster is very proud of the success of his Govern­ment’s policies that have resulted in the resurrection of Iceland’s economy, an unprecedented rise in purchasing power, record low inflation and a general improvem­ent in liv­ing stand­ards for the Icelandic people.

The Prime Minister is especially proud of his Govern­ment’s hand­ling of Iceland´s situation with the creditors of the failed Icelandic banks. The Prime Minister has devoted much of his time in politics to the challenge of resol­v­ing the dramatic balance of pay­ment problem Iceland faced due to bank­ing crisis in 2008. If the creditors of the failed banks, which were nine times the size of the economy, had been allowed to take their claims and exit Iceland with for­eign currency, it would have had a devest­a­ting impact on the stand­ard of liv­ing for Icelanders. Instead the Prime Minister and his Govern­ment were able to bring to the table a solution which will have an exceptionally positive impact on the Icelandic economy. The net positive impact to the Icelandic economy is more than three billion GBP, or a quarter of Iceland´s GDP. The net external position of Iceland has never been as good as now.

These facts are acknowledged by international experts, including Lee Buchheit, the Govern­ment’s advisor on capital account liberalization and a world renowned aut­hority on sover­eign debt reconstruction, who said in a recent interview that the result achieved in sett­ling the failed banks’ estates is unprecedented in world financial history and that this outcome could by no means have been expected.

The Prime Minister’s action reflects his wish to not stand in the way of the import­ant issues that still remain on the Govern­ment’s agenda being fin­is­hed in this term, issues like housing reform and the reform of the financial system that he will continue to fight for in the inter­est of the Icelandic people.

In recent weeks, the Prime Minister and his wife have provided detailed answers to questions about the assets of the PM’s wife. They have never sought to hide these assets from Icelandic tax aut­horities and these hold­ings in Wintris have been reported as an asset on the Prime Minister’s wife’s income tax ret­urns since 2008 and taxes have been paid accordingly in Iceland. No Parli­ament­ary rules on disclosure have been bro­ken. Even The Guardian and other media covering the story have confirmed that they have not seen any evidence to sug­gest that the Prime Minister, his wife, or Wintris enga­ged in any actions invol­v­ing tax avoidance, tax evasion, or any dis­ho­nest financial gain.

As up until now, the Icelandic Govern­ment continues to use every option availa­ble to prevent tax avoidance.