Pandora Papers

The latest Pandora papers exposes offshore dealings and secret financial documents of presidents, prime ministers and royalties. Thirty five current and former leaders and more than 300 public officials are featured in the files from offshore companies, dubbed the Pandora Papers.King of Jordan amassed £70m secret UK and US properties empire.

Blairs saved £312, 000 in stamp duty when he bought a London office, in Marylebone, central London  in July 2017, for £6.45m. property he bought deal. Ex-UK premier Tony Blair and his barrister wife Cherie Blair, bought an offshore firm that owned the building too circumvent UK stamp duty.

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.

The examination of files is the largest organised by the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists (ICIJ), with more than 650 reporters taking part.

The Guardian, BBC Panorama and other media partners have also access to nearly 12 million documents after a joint investigation, accessed files from 14 financial services companies in countries including th3e British Virgin Islands, Panama, Belize, Cyprus, the United Arab Emirates, Singapore and Switzerland. Previous financial leaks like Offshore leaks in 2013, with 260GB data, from 2.5m files, Panama Papers  in 2016, 2.6TB data from 11.5m, Paradise Papers in 2017, accessed 1.4TB data, from 13.4m, and now Pandora Papers in 2021, accessing 2.94TB, accessing 11.9m files.

Some figures are facing allegations of corruption, money laundering and global tax avoidance. Some biggest revelations include how prominent and wealthy people have been legally able to set up companies to secretly buy property in the UK.

The documents reveal the owners of the 95, 000 offshore companies behind the purchases and highlights UK government 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 offences.

The Azerbaijani President Aliyev and his family have been accused of looting their own country, and found  he and his close associates have secretly been involved in property deals in the UK worth more than £400m, as 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.

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. 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”.

Abdullah II bin Al-Hussien, King Jordan’s  Malibu mansions which include £50m on three adjacent ocean view properties in Malibu, and how he used a network of offshore companies in the British Virgin Islands and other tax havens to buy 15 homes since he assumed power in 1999.

Kenya President Uhuru Kenaytta and sic members of his family secretly owned a network of offshore companies, and 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 documents reveal that PMI-Q leader, Chaudhry Moonis Elahi, who is a close political ally of Imran’s planned to put the proceeds from an allegedly corrupt business deal into a secret trust.