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Andie Sophia Fontaine

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Screenshot from CNN

President Ólafur Ragnar Grímsson told reporters that he misunderstood Christiane Amanpour during a now infamous CNN interview.

RÚV reports that Ólafur held a press conference at his residence today, to address recent revelations that the family of his wife, Dorrit Moussaieff, have connections to offshore tax shelters, including those named in the Panama Papers leak.

One of the points of contention in the whole affair is that Ólafur, when asked by CNN‘s Christiane Amanpour if he or members of his family will appear in the Panama Papers, had categorically denied this will happen. This denial has already reached memetic proportions.

Ólafur now says the whole thing was based on a misunderstanding.

“When I was asked about my family, I understood the question to mean my family in Iceland and Dorrit,” he said. “So I was not in any way answering for Dorrit’s parents or other relatives of hers.”

However, it should be noted that when Dorrit changed her legal residence from Iceland to the UK in 2013, she told reporters at the time that she ran Moussaieff Jewelers Limited, Dorrit’s family’s business, which has been connected to Lasca Finance Limited, a company named in the Panama Papers.

A statement from Dorrit to the press insisted that Ólafur never had any knowledge of her nor her family’s financial dealings. Ólafur also told reporters that he does not believe this scandal necessitates him withdrawing from his presidential bid, where he is seeking a sixth term, nor has it damaged Iceland’s image overall.