The secret wealth and dealings of world leaders, politicians and billionaires has been exposed in one of the biggest leaks of financial documents.
Some 35 current and former leaders and more than 300 public officials are featured in the files from offshore companies, dubbed the Pandora Papers.
They reveal the King of Jordan secretly amassed £70m of UK and US property.
They also show how ex-UK PM Tony Blair and his wife saved £312,000 in stamp duty when they bought a London office.
The couple bought an offshore firm that owned the building.
The leak also links Russian President Vladimir Putin to secret assets in Monaco, and shows the Czech Prime Minister Andrej Babis - facing an election later this week - failed to declare an offshore investment company used to purchase two villas for £12m in the south of France.
It is the latest in a string of leaks over the past seven years, following the FinCen Files, the Paradise Papers, the Panama Papers and LuxLeaks.
The examination of the files is the largest organised by the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists (ICIJ), with more than 650 reporters taking part.
BBC Panorama in a joint investigation with the Guardian and the other media partners have had access to nearly 12 million documents and files from 14 financial services companies in countries including the British Virgin Islands, Panama, Belize, Cyprus, the United Arab Emirates, Singapore and Switzerland.
Some figures are facing allegations of corruption, money laundering and global tax avoidance.
But one of the biggest revelations is how prominent and wealthy people have been legally setting up companies to secretly buy property in the UK.
The documents reveal the owners of some of the 95,000 offshore firms behind the purchases.
It highlights the UK government's failure to introduce a register of offshore property owners despite repeated promises to do so, amid concerns some property buyers could be hiding money-laundering activities.
The Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev and his family, who have been accused of looting their own country, are one example.
The investigation found the Aliyevs and their close associates have secretly been involved in property deals in the UK worth more than £400m.
The revelations could prove embarrassing for the UK government, as the Aliyevs appear to have made a £31m profit after selling one of their London properties to the Crown Estate - the Queen's property empire that is managed by The Treasury and raises cash for the nation.
Many of the transactions in the documents involve no legal wrongdoing.
But Fergus Shiel, from the ICIJ, said: "There's never been anything on this scale and it shows the reality of what offshore companies can offer to help people hide dodgy cash or avoid tax."
He added: "They are using those offshore accounts, those offshore trusts, to buy hundreds of millions of dollars of property in other countries, and to enrich their own families, at the expense of their citizens."
The ICIJ believes the investigation is "opening a box on a lot of things" - hence the name Pandora Papers.
King of Jordan's Malibu mansions
The leaked financial documents show how the King of Jordan secretly amassed a property empire in the UK and US worth more than £70m (over $100m).
They identify a network of offshore companies in the British Virgin Islands and other tax havens used by Abdullah II bin Al-Hussein to buy 15 homes since he assumed power in 1999.
They include £50m on three adjacent ocean view properties in Malibu, California, and properties in London and Ascot in the UK.
His property interests have been built up as King Abdullah has been accused of presiding over an authoritarian regime, with protests taking place in recent years amid austerity measures and tax rises.
Lawyers for King Abdullah said all the properties were bought with personal wealth, which he also uses to fund projects for Jordan's citizens.
They said it was common practice for high profile individuals to purchase properties via offshore companies for privacy and security reasons.
Among the other revelations in the Pandora Papers:
• Kenya President Uhuru Kenyatta and six members of his family secretly owned a network of offshore companies. They have been linked to 11 firms - one of which was valued as holding assets of $30m
• Members of Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan's inner circle, including cabinet ministers and their families, secretly own companies and trusts holding millions of dollars
• The law firm founded by President Nicos Anastasiades of Cyprus appears to have provided fake owners to disguise the real owner of a series of offshore companies - a former Russian politician who had been accused of embezzlement. However, the law firm denies this
• Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelensky transferred his stake in a secret offshore company just before he won the 2019 election
• Ecuador President Guillermo Lasso, a former banker, replaced a Panamanian foundation that made monthly payments to his close family members with a trust based in South Dakota in the US
No stamp duty on Blair office buy
There is no suggestion in the Pandora Papers that Tony and Cherie Blair were hiding their wealth.
But documents show why stamp duty was not payable when the couple bought a £6.45m property.
The former Labour prime minister and his barrister wife Cherie acquired the building in Marylebone, central London, in July 2017 by buying the offshore company that owned it.
It is legal to acquire properties in the UK in this way and stamp duty does not have to be paid - but Mr Blair has previously been critical of tax loopholes.
The townhouse in Marylebone, central London, is now home to Mrs Blair's legal consultancy, which advises governments around the world, as well as her foundation for women.
Mrs Blair said the sellers had insisted they buy the house through the offshore company.
She said they had brought the property back under UK rules and will be liable to pay capital gains tax if they sell it in future.
The ultimate owners of the property were a family with political connections in Bahrain - but both parties say they did not initially know who they were dealing with.
The boy who owned a £33m London property
Other documents show how Azerbaijan's ruling Aliyev family have secretly acquired UK property using offshore companies.
The files show how the family - long accused of corruption in the European nation - bought 17 properties, including a £33m office block in London for the president's 11-year-old son Heydar Aliyev.
The building in Mayfair was bought by a front company owned by a family friend of President Ilham Aliyev in 2009.
It was transferred one month later to Hedyar.
The research also reveals how another office block owned by the family nearby was sold to the Crown Estate for £66m in 2018.
The Crown Estate said it carried out the checks required in law at the time of purchase but is now looking into the matter.
The UK government says it is cracking down on money laundering with tougher laws and enforcement, and that it will introduce a register of offshore companies owning UK property when parliamentary time allows.
The Pandora Papers is a leak of almost 12 million documents and files exposing the secret wealth and dealings of world leaders, politicians and billionaires. The data was obtained by the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists in Washington DC and has led to one of the biggest ever global investigations. More than 600 journalists from 117 countries have looked at the hidden fortunes of some of the most powerful people on the planet. BBC Panorama and the Guardian have led the investigation in the UK.
Putin’s alleged mistress has $100M, ‘Pandora Papers’ reveal
His secret girlfriend has lots of secret wealth.
Russian President Vladimir Putin’s longtime mistress has an estimated net worth of $100 million in “shadow wealth,” including swanky apartments and a yacht, despite her modest background, a trove of newly leaked documents reveal.
Svetlana Krivonogikh, 46, has been romantically linked with the Russian strongman since he was still deputy mayor of her hometown of St. Petersburg, and reportedly has a daughter with him.
But Krivonogikh — who grew up in a communal apartment — and other Putin cronies have been enriched through shell companies in the Virgin Islands and elsewhere, the Guardian reported.
In September 2003, an offshore company called Brockville Development Limited — through two other Panamanian companies — bought her a luxury fourth-floor apartment in Monte Carlo. She’s also acquired a flat in St. Petersburg and other valuable assets, according to the reporting.
Krivonogikh is far from alone in benefiting from a long-standing relationship with Putin. For years Russia’s inner circle has gravitated to Monaco, where lax tax laws and policies have made the waterfront city a favorite for the wealthy.
“It has become Moscow-on-Sea. The mentality is to show off,” local lawyer Dominique Anastasis told the Guardian. “Nobody asks where your money comes from. There’s no culture of checking. You don’t make a tax declaration.”
Among the wealthiest of the Russian-Monaco circle is Gennady Timchenko, a former Soviet bureaucrat who has been friends with Putin since the 1990s.
A former oil trader, Timchenko was given an oil export license by Putin in 1991, and later co-founded a Swiss-based oil export company named Gunvor — with the Russian president long rumored to be a silent partner in the firm.
Forbes reported Timchenko’s net worth at $22 billion, the outlet said.
Another member of Putin’s inner circle is Peter Kolbin, an old family friend, who took over as director of Leningrad-based International Petroleum Products in 2003 despite having few qualifications for the job.
Putin has denied ties to the lucrative companies detailed in the Pandora Papers.
But jailed Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny has referred to Putin as “the world’s richest man,” according to the Guardian.
https://nypost.com/2021/10/03/pandora-papers-reveal-vladimir-putins-hidden-wealth/
Hello Singapore. Who do we have here? Ah DBS.
https://offshoreleaks.icij.org/search?c=SGP&cat=1
Pandora Papers shed light on offshore assets linked to Daim, who insists nothing shady about them
KUALA LUMPUR, Oct 4 — The Pandora Papers — documents obtained by the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists (ICIJ) on tax havens preferred by the rich and powerful — have shed some light on business associates of former finance minister Tun Daim Zainuddin.
Malaysiakini reported that according to the documents, which were sighted by them, the companies and trusts held by Daim's children, wife or known business associates jointly were worth at least £25 million (about RM141 million).
Daim’s sons, Muhammed Amir Zainuddin Daim and Muhammed Amin Zainuddin Daim were named owners of a British Virgin Islands (BVI) firm Newton Invest & Finance Limited (BVI) in 2007 when they were nine and 12 respectively.
By 2017, when the brothers were in their early 20s, they were owners of several offshore firms set up in tax havens, including Splendid International Ltd (BVI) which held London properties worth £12 million (about RM65 million at 2017 exchange rates).
Besides the two BVI firms, the brothers and their mother are also shareholders in several other offshore companies which hold properties in London.
Meanwhile, the documents also mentioned Josephine Premla Sevaretnam, a former lawyer and deputy public prosecutor who served alongside Daim in the service before holding key positions in his various ventures which includes the Swiss bank ICB Banking Group, in which Daim owns 74.4 per cent when it was listed on the London Alternative Investment Market in 2007.
Josephine was also listed as Newton Invest & Finance Limited (BVI) and Splendid International Ltd’s (BVI) business manager, based in Bryanston Square, London.
Daim’s daughter Aslinda Daim-Pan, who took on her husband's surname, is also a director of the British company 8 Bryanston Square Freehold Limited, according to the UK's Companies House.
In a reply to Malaysiakini, Daim called out what he believes is the news portal's "unending obsession" with him.
He said while not all the trusts listed belonged to him, but all his dealings are legitimate and further stated that trusts are part of "estate planning" as he has retired from business.
As such, he contended that the reporting, which implies wrongdoing by innuendo and speculation, is "unprofessional" and an attempt to discredit him.
The former minister also said he has always paid taxes due for all investments and properties in any jurisdiction and that he was a "successful and wealthy" businessperson in his own right.
"I have been in business since the 1960s. It has been more than 60 years, a half-century since.
"I think some recognition should be given to a Malaysian who has successfully carried the flag for Malaysian businesses here and worldwide," he was reported as saying.
The Pandora Papers is the largest trove of leaked offshore data in history with documents coming from offshore service providers operating in Anguilla, Belize, Singapore, Switzerland, Panama, Barbados, Cyprus, Dubai, the Bahamas, the British Virgin Islands, Seychelles and Vietnam.
The files were leaked to the ICIJ, which has not revealed its source. The ICIJ gave 600 journalists around the world remote access to the leaked data.
https://malaysia.news.yahoo.com/pandora-papers-shed-light-offshore-025405470.html
Key findings of leaked Pandora Papers on offshore wealth
A group of news organisations has released the following main findings after reviewing what it describes as a massive leak of confidential financial records revealing assets held offshore by politicians and public officials worldwide.
The news reports have been published by the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists (ICIJ) and its media partners in the Pandora investigation, including The Washington Post, the BBC, The Guardian, Radio France and the Indian Express.
Reuters could not independently verify the allegations or documents detailed by the consortium and its partners.
JORDAN'S KING ABDULLAH
Jordan's King Abdullah amassed about US$100 million worth of property in the United States and the UK through secret companies. They were purchased between 2003 and 2017 via firms registered in tax havens and include properties in Malibu, southern California, and Washington and London.
DLA Piper, a London law office representing Abdullah, told the ICIJ that he had "not at any point misused public monies or made any use whatsoever of the proceeds of aid or assistance intended for public use".
CZECH PRIME MINISTER ANDREJ BABIS
The Pandora news reports said Babis moved US$22 million through offshore companies to buy an estate on the French Riviera in 2009 while keeping his ownership secret. The report did not say the transactions broke the law.
Babis, speaking on Sunday in a TV debate ahead of Oct 8-9 elections, denied wrongdoing and said "the money left a Czech bank, was taxed, it was my money, and returned to a Czech bank".
Babis, founder of the Agrofert farming, food, chemicals and media empire, entered politics in 2011 on an anti-corruption agenda.
SVETLANA KRIVONOGIKH
The Washington Post said Russian woman Svetlana Krivonogikh became the owner of a Monaco apartment via an offshore company incorporated on the Caribbean island of Tortola in April 2003 just weeks after she gave birth to a girl.
At the time, she was in a secret, years-long relationship with Russian President Vladimir Putin, the Post said, citing Russian investigative outlet Proekt.
The Post said Krivonogikh, her daughter, who is now 18, and the Kremlin did not respond to requests for comment.
PAKISTAN
The ICIJ said the leaked documents showed members of Prime Minister Imran Khan's inner circle, including cabinet ministers, have secretly owned companies and trusts holding millions of dollars of hidden wealth.
The documents also showed the personal wealth of Pakistani military leaders, it added.
The consortium said the documents contained no suggestion that Khan himself owns offshore companies.
It said Finance Minister Shaukat Fayaz Ahmed Tarin and members of his family own four offshore firms.
According to Tariq Fawad Malik, a financial consultant who handled the paperwork on the companies, they were set up as part of the Tarin family's intended investment in a bank with a Saudi business, the ICIJ said.
The deal did not proceed.
The ICIJ quoted Tarin as saying in a statement: "The off-shore companies mentioned were incorporated as part of the fund raising process for my bank."
SOUTH DAKOTA
The Guardian said the files provided evidence that South Dakota now rivalled opaque jurisdictions in Europe and the Caribbean for financial secrecy.
The documents reveal almost US$360 billion in customer assets are sitting in trusts in South Dakota, some of it tied to offshore-based people and companies accused of human rights abuses and other wrongdoing, it said. State officials declined to comment to the paper.
AZERBAIJAN
The investigation found Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev and his family have secretly been involved in British property deals worth more than 400 million pounds (US$542 million), according to the BBC.
The files show how the family bought 17 properties, including a 33 million pound office block in London for the president's 11-year-old son.
The research also reveals how another office block owned by the family nearby was sold to the Crown Estate for 66 million pounds in 2018.
The Crown Estate said it carried out the checks required in law at the time of purchase but is now looking into the matter. The Aliyevs declined to comment to the BBC.
KENYA
Kenya's President Uhuru Kenyatta and six members of his family have been linked to 13 offshore companies, according to the documents.
The Kenyattas' offshore investments included a company with stocks and bonds worth US$30 million, the BBC reported.
The Kenyattas had not yet responded to requests for comment, it added.
https://www.channelnewsasia.com/world/pandora-papers-key-findings-leaked-offshore-wealth-2219526