Icelands PM Sigmundur Davíð Gunnlaugsson addresses a session of parliament in Reykjavik | Halldor Kolbeins/AFP via Getty Images Iceland’s prime minister claims he did not resign Sigmundur Davíð Gunnlaugsson backtracks from claims he quit after Panama Papers revelations.

Iceland’s Prime Minister Sigmundur Davíð Gunnlaugsson backtracked from a statement that was interpreted as a resignation after he was implicated in the Panama Papers scandal.

Hours after issuing a statement Tuesday afternoon, Gunnlaugsson sent a follow-up email, published by a Financial Times journalist on Twitter, saying he had not resigned. Instead, he said he stepped aside in favor of Sig­urður Ingi Jó­hanns­son, the vice chairman of his Progressive Party, "for an unspecified amount of time."

Gunnlaugsson also said he was "very proud of the success of his government policies" and "especially proud of his government's handling of Iceland's situation with the creditors of the failed Icelandic banks."

Iceland's prime minister faced overwhelming pressure to resign after the leak of more than 11 million documents from the Panama-based law firm Mossack Fonseca. The cache showed a company called Wintris Inc., created in 2007 in the British Virgin Islands and owned by Gunnlaugsson and his now-wife Anna Sigurlaug Pálsdóttir, held a significant amount of bonds of Icelandic banks. This was not declared in his parliamentary register of financial interests.

An estimated 10 percent of the country's population protested in front of Iceland's parliament after the revelations.

Gunnlaugsson rose to power in 2013 following a wave of anger sparked by the collapse of Iceland's financial system and the failure of three major banks in 2008. As a leader of the so-called InDefence movement, the former journalist campaigned against the bailout of international creditors by the Icelandic government.

Gunnlaugsson again neglected to disclose his personal interests when he was elected prime minister, even though he would have to take decisions affecting the creditors. Last year, he agreed to a controversial deal that would benefit creditors, including Wintris, by as much as €2 billion, according to Süddeutsche Zeitung.