In 2007, Sigmundur Davíð Gunnlaugsson and his wife, Anna Sigurlaug Pálsdóttir, set up Wintris Inc via the law firm Mossack Fonseca.
As Prime Minister, Sigmundur Davíð pledged to fight demands from foreign creditors for full repayment by the Icelandic banks.
Her company, Wintris Inc, was claiming a total of ISK 515 million from the three banks, due to losses incurred during the financial crisis.
Following this revelation, a number of Icelandic MPs criticised the arrangement, with Svandís Svavarsdóttir, a former minister, calling for the government to resign and for new elections.
[7] The protest was scheduled to take place at 5pm, and people slowly began gathering in Austurvöllur, the park just outside of Alþingishúsið, the building that houses the Althing.
[6][11] On the morning of 5 April, Sigmundur Davíð announced via Facebook his intention to dissolve parliament and call early elections.
Later on that morning, he met with the President of Iceland, Ólafur Ragnar Grímsson, who had just returned from a private visit to the United States.
Ólafur Ragnar refused this request, on the grounds that the Prime Minister had not consulted his coalition partner, the Independence Party, on this issue.
[15] That evening, foreign correspondents revealed a government press release saying that the Prime Minister "has not resigned" and was handing over the office to Sigurður Ingi "for an unspecified amount of time.