US Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross has he has done nothing wrong and did properly disclose his investments in a shipping firm that has significant business ties to Russian President Vladimir Putin's inner circle.
Ross was responding to reports on Sunday about his investments stemming from the so-called Paradise Papers, a trove of leaked documents about offshore investment that relate to the affairs of wealthy individuals and institutions ranging from Ross to Britain's Queen Elizabeth and trading firm Glencore.
The documents were obtained by Germany's Sueddeutsche Zeitung newspaper and shared with the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists (ICIJ) and some media outlets. Reuters has not independently verified the documents.
"There is nothing wrong with anything that was done," Ross told CNBC, adding that he had not considered resigning. Ross is a billionaire investor who is helping to shape Republican President Donald Trump's trade policy.
"There was disclosure, there is no impropriety and if people draw a contrary conclusion that's because the papers have twisted the story and made it into something that it's not there," Ross told the BBC.
US media said partnerships used by Ross have a 31 per cent stake in Navigator Holdings, which the New York Times said earns millions of dollars a year transporting gas for Russian petrochemical firm Sibur.
The Times, which based its report on files from prominent offshore law firm Appleby, said Sibur stakeholders include Gennady Timchenko, a Russian oligarch and Putin associate who is subject to US sanctions, and Putin's son-in-law, Kirill Shamalov.
Navigator was mentioned in Ross's 57-page public financial disclosure report filed in December, before he officially joined the Trump administration. The Times said the latest batch of documents provided more insight into his financial holdings.
In an earlier statement, a Department of Commerce spokesman said Ross "was not involved in Navigator's decision to engage in business with Sibur ... has never met the Sibur shareholders referenced in this story and, until now, did not know of their relationship".
The Paradise Papers are the second release of its kind by the ICIJ, which last year published the "Panama Papers," leaked documents from Panama law firm Mossack Fonseca that chronicled a shadowy world of offshore holdings and hidden wealth.
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