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Now the president of Argentina is facing scrutiny because of the Panama Papers

Apr 8, 2016, 00:18 IST

A federal prosecutor in Argentina opened an investigation Thursday into President Mauricio Macri's financial dealings via two offshore firms revealed in the so-called Panama Papers leaks, according to AFP.

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Prosecutor Federico Delgado said he had asked a judge to request information from the national tax authority and anticorruption office to determine whether the conservative president "omitted, with malicious intent, to complete his sworn declaration" of assets, a requirement for Argentine public officials, AFP reported.

Argentine newspaper La Nacion, which examined documents leaked from Panama-based international law firm Mossack Fonseca, reported that Macri was listed as a director of Fleg Trading, a company based in the Bahamas, from 1998 until 2009.

Macri, however, did not list the company in his financial declaration in 2007, when he became mayor of Buenos Aires, or in 2015, when he was elected president, according to the BBC.

Earlier this week, Macri's office confirmed that a business group owned by his family had created an offshore company through Mossack Fonseca, the BBC noted. But, the president's office said, he never received income from it, so there was no reason to declare it in financial disclosures.

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Macri, who has denied any misdeeds, campaigned in part on vows to fight corruption, and he said during his state of the union earlier this year that "Corruption can't nor should be left unpunished."

The Argentine president is not the only Latin American leader with links to the suspect financial dealings divulged by the Panama Papers.

Mexican President Enrique Peña Nieto and his wife have also been shown to have ties to individuals named in the documents.

President of Mexico Enrique Pena Nieto and first lady Angelica Rivera Hurtado arrive at Brisbane Airport ahead of the G-20 summit in Brisbane, Australia.G20 Australia/Patrick Hamilton/AP

Earlier this week, it was revealed that a Mexican contractor - a close friend of the president - had worked with Mossack Fonseca to move roughly $100 million to offshore trusts in the midst of a government investigation into whether that contractor had granted the president special favors in a real-estate deal.

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Thus far, however, Macri and Peña Nieto have not fared the worst in the wake of the Panama Papers' leak: Iceland's prime minister resigned on Tuesday after secret investments revealed by the Panama Papers ignited a firestorm of criticism.

AFP contributed to this story.

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