Cameron’s dad, senior Tories’ offshore asset dealings exposed & UK media still focus on Putin...

RT
April 4, 2016

Sections of the British public have slammed their local media outlets for ignoring the fact Prime Minister David Cameron’s father was caught up in a massive data leak involving possible tax evasion.

A huge leak of more than 11.5 million documents from a Panama-based law firm saw the British media jump to accuse President Vladimir Putin of corruption, despite the Russian president not being named in any of the papers.

@BBCWorld Funny how the BBC choose to go after Putin when these leaks severely undermine the credibility of inter alia, the City?

— markrowantree (@markrowantree) April 3, 2016

Putin’s photo popped up all over the British press. This has not been lost on people in the UK, who were scathing that so little attention was being paid to allegations that the prime minister’s father had been caught up in the alleged tax evasion scandal.

“Cameron’s dad [is] directly involved but [of] course our ‘free press’ will focus solely on the friend of an acquaintance of Putin,”Twitter user Luke Maddison wrote in reply to an article published by Sky News.

The secret, offshore accounts of world leaders, celebrities and politicians https://t.co/JGMVAAMEg9 pic.twitter.com/gg1XDnQt3B

— Sky News (@SkyNews) April 4, 2016

The Guardian newspaper broke the story in the UK and led with the headline: “The secret $2bn trail of deals that lead all the way to Putin,” complete with a picture of the Russian president.

The irony is the Guardian put a story on David Cameron’s crusade against tax havens right next to the article on Vladimir Putin, without even mentioning the fact that the leak revealed information about the PM’s father.

@guardiannews @palestininianpr Even Cameron has been linked but you lead with Putin. Getting tiresome.

— Wrighty (@tradercoach) April 3, 2016

One Twitter user said it was “tiresome” that Putin was being linked with everything, while main stream media was ignoring that “Cameron has been linked.” 

Another Twitter user accused the BBC of being the “British Brainwashing Channel” for not mentioning David Cameron, while the person wondered whether this was “against national interest?”

Mossack and Fonseca - the lawyers at the centre of global controversy https://t.co/jtxi1rhULT #panamapapers pic.twitter.com/DvopmbgaWJ

— Independent US (@IndyUSA) April 3, 2016

So you highlight Putin but Cameron goes without a mention of his links. https://t.co/UKaVicxJCH

— Kevin Peters (@Big__Kev) April 4, 2016

The tenuous link to Putin was through a personal acquaintance and the accusations made against the Russian president were noted by members of the public.

“You state that Putin isn’t listed yet you proceed to use his photo. Western anti-Putin propaganda machinery in full swing!”Mothibi Phosa II said, in reply to a Business Insider article on the topic.

One of the largest data leaks in history reveals how world leaders and aides hide their cash https://t.co/I174AKx7sP pic.twitter.com/RIQtgdAvGG

— Business Insider (@businessinsider) April 3, 2016

I like how the BBC has a whole article on Putin and Russian links but mentions nothing about David Cameron's dad.

— Scott Johnston (@Scottjohnstonn) April 4, 2016

Cameron has said on many occasions that he wants to tackle money laundering and make sure no dirty money enters the UK.

How to hide a billion dollars. The incredible story of the #panamapapers data leakhttps://t.co/Gw3kuakFE2 https://t.co/OH0u0hwwer

— BBC News (World) (@BBCWorld) April 4, 2016

“I want Britain to be the most open country in the world for investment. But I want to ensure that all this money is clean money,” he said in July.

“There is no place for dirty money in Britain. Indeed, there should be no place for dirty money anywhere.”

The Independent did finally get around to publishing a story about Cameron’s father and senior Tories having offshore accounts to hide their wealth. However, on the Guardian, there is not a photograph or word to be said about the British prime minister on its front page – just a big photograph of Putin.